In a new book Robert J. Daly S.J. examines the concept of sacrifice in the ancient Mediterranean world, and discusses how the rise of bloodless Christian sacrifice, and the use of sacrificial language in reference to highly
spiritualized Christian lives, would have seemed unsettling and
radically challenging to the pagan mind.

Table of contents

Foreword
Part I: Introduction, Methodological and Hermeneutical Issues
Preliminary Notes
The History of Religions
Postmodern Approaches
The Elites in Antiquity and Christianity
What Is Sacrifice?
The Sacrificial World Confronting Ancient Christianity
Sacrifice in Human History
The Unity of the Ancient World of Sacrifice
The “End” of Paganism?
Part II: The Greco-Roman Trajectory
From Homer and Hesiod up to Heraclitus and Plato
Anaximenes
Theophrastus
Philo of Alexandria
Apollonius of Tyana
Heliodorus of Emesa
Plutarch
Lucian
Porphyry
Iamblichus
Sallust
Symmachus
Macrobius and the “End” of Paganism
Part III: The Jewish-Christian Trajectory
Preliminary Note: The Many Meanings of Sacrifice
Transitional Note
The Hebrew Scriptures
Excursus 1: “Leave your gift there before the altar” (Matthew 5:24)
Excursus 2: Spiritualization
The Christian Scriptures (New Testament)
Early Christianity
Preliminary Note: the General Situation
Excursus 3: A Trinitarian View of Sacrifice
Excursus 4: The Eucharist as Sacrifice
Part IV: Select Points of Comparison and Contrast
Prayer and Sacrifice
Divination and Sacrifice
Ethics, Morality, and Sacrifice
The Purpose of Sacrifice
The Rhetoric of Sacrifice
The “Economics” of Sacrifice
Heroes and Saints
Part V: Concluding Summary and Looking Ahead
Index of Names
Subject Index