Sacrifice in Early Christianity: The Social Dimensions of a Metaphor (original) (raw)
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The language of sacrifice appears prominently in the New Testament and the liturgical theology of various early Christian writers. It has often been considered a “spiritualization” of the Israelite cult centered at the Temple in Jerusalem. As such it can be seen as an embarrassing holdover from primitive religion, or a moral progression in religious thought. The way that continuity with the Temple cult is applied to the death of Jesus and Christian eucharistic theology has proven ecumenically controversial, and this has in recent year revived interest in the way that the Old Testament cult informs Christian theology. In this paper I will consider how a Christian understanding of sacrifice might helpfully rely upon general contextual understandings of sacrificial rituals. By examining two prominent theologians’ work, I will demonstrate the limit of attempts to trace the language of sacrifice as it pertains to Jesus and Christian worship back to specific types of sacrifice. I will apply critiques from recent Old Testament studies that suggest no easy metaphorical readings for that cult. This will demonstrate that Christian theologians are on firmest ground when they use the Old Testament sacrificial system as a matrix of rituals that maintain Israel’s life with Yahweh. The atoning work of Jesus and the ongoing worship of Christians can be seen as reflecting some of the purposes of that system, but the analogies break down when a strictly defined theory of Old Testament sacrificed is advanced as the basis for them.
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, without any expiatory sacrificial act being required. Jesus did not, however, reject the sacrificial rituals of the temple, those rituals that did not serve to expiate voluntary sins. In Jesus' proposal, the forgiveness by one individual of another implies a social conception, which includes the absence of debt, reconciliation, justice and equality. Jesus transforms and relocates two aspects of the religion of the Second Temple. In his conception, the forgiveness of sins and a new beginning of people's lives brought about by the Jubilee can happen anywhere (not only in the temple) and at any time (not only once a year for Yom hakippurim). HTS 58(2) 2002 473 graphical studies and scientific conferences have focused on the subject of sacrifices. 2
Many New Testament writings, including Paul's cultic metaphors, Mark's description of the Last Supper, and the heavenly Temple in Hebrews and Revelation, relate to the Temple and sacrifices. The destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the end of the Jewish sacrificial cult did not diminish the interest of early Christian writers in the cult. Several decades later, the Apostolic fathers and Church fathers continue to engage with the concept of sacrifice and related subjects. In his study on spiritual sacrifices in early Christianity (second-fourth centuries), Everett Ferguson discusses the subject from a functional perspective. He shows that sacrificial language is utilized for a wide range of applications: prayer, praise, the Eucharist, fasting, celibacy, martyrdom, etc. 1 It is customary to classify this sacrificial discourse into segments of Christian doctrine, following Paul, such as the sacrifice of Christ, the Church as the new Temple, and images of sacrificial activity. 2 Recently there has been renewed interest in the question of why and how second-and third-century Christians rejected animal sacrifices. Guy Stroumsa relates the cessation of sacrifices to a broader shift in the very concept of identity, from a more communal model of identity to a more individualistic model. 3 Maria-Zoe Petropoulou suggests that the Christian rejection resulted from a different 1