Animal Sacrifice In Ancient Greek Religion, Judaism, And Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200.

Animal Sacrifice In Ancient Greek Religion, Judaism, And Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200

Maria-Zoe Petropoulou

Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4314

9780199218547, $120.00, www.oup.com/us, 1-800-451-7556

Blood sacrifice is a fundamental aspect of most antiquarian religious belief systems including what would become the Judeo-Christian religions of the western world. Christianity would view the crucifixion of Jesus as the ultimate blood sacrifice and replace animal sacrifice with the sacraments of wine and bread taking the symbolic place of flesh and blood. But how was animal sacrifice carried out and how did it evolve in the context of the Greco-Roman period within which Christianity was to emerge? "Animal Sacrifice In Ancient Greek Religion, Judaism, And Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200" by Maria-Zoe Petropoulou (a teacher on the International Baccalaureate program of the Hellenic American Foundation, Athens) specifically addresses animal sacrifice, sources and methodology in ancient Greece, the character of Jewish sacrificial ritual worship and how it differed from the Greeks, and relationship of the early Christians (a widely persecuted minority within the Roman empire) to animal sacrifice up to AD 200. Of special note is Professor Petropoulou's epilogue 'A Suggestion Concerning the Reasons for the Cessation of Animal Sacrifice'. Enhanced with an extensive bibliography and a comprehensive index, "Animal Sacrifice In Ancient Greek Religion, Judaism, And Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200" is a seminal work of meticulous scholarship that has been critiqued by the Oxford Classical Monograph Series' Faculty Board of Classics, and therefore is very strongly recommended as an informed and informative addition to personal, academic, and community library reference collections and supplemental reading lists.