Sacrifice: Theory and Praxis II

HDS 3254B Subject & Catalog Number

Description

A comparative examination of the paradoxical ritual of sacrifice in a range of religious traditions where it is featured, rejected, or sublimated.

We will consider types of sacrifice, blood and bloodless offerings, and recurrent religious concepts: e.g., cosmogony, consecration, thanksgiving, communion, reciprocity, substitution, efficacy, violence, transgression, expiation, catharsis, human and divine hierarchy, gendered and racialized dimensions, and sacerdotal authority. We will also consider leading theories of sacrifice. Students will be encouraged to develop their own research and understanding. In the second semester, we will study the history of sacrifice in the Ancient Near East and ancient Mediterranean (Greece, Rome, Carthage, Egypt, and Israel), and in the Abrahamic religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam).

Note: A continuation of REL 1032A. It is not necessary to have taken REL 1032A to take 1032B; each of the two courses is designed to stand alone.