Social Meanings of Sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible A Study of Four Writings

This work uses anthropological theory and field studies to investigate the social function and meaning of sacrifice. All rituals, including sacrifice, communicate social beliefs and morality, but these cannot be determined outside of a study of the social context. Thus, there is no single explanation for sacrifice - such as those advanced by René Girard or Walter Burkert or late-19th and early-20th century scholars. The book then examines four different writings in the Hebrew Bible - the Priestly Writing, the Deuteronomistic History, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles - to demonstrate how different social origins result in different social meanings of sacrifice.Janzen, David is the author of 'Social Meanings of Sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible A Study of Four Writings', published 2004 under ISBN 9783110181586 and ISBN 3110181584.