Download or read book Understanding Religious Sacrifice written by Jeffrey Carter and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2003-03-01 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides a thorough introduction to the major classic and modern writings dealing with religious sacrifice. Collected here are twenty five influential selections, each with a brief introduction addressing the overall framework and assumptions of its author. As they present different theories and examples of sacrifice, these selections also discuss important concepts in religious studies such as the origin of religion, totemism, magic, symbolism, violence, structuralism and ritual performance. Students of comparative religion, ritual studies, the history of religions, the anthropology of religion and theories of religion will particularly value the historical organization and thematic analyses presented in this collection.