Theology and the First Theory of Sacrifice

260 Pages·2003·1.08 MB·English

by  Ivan Strenski

NUS-98-strenski.qxd 22/07/2003 12:47 Page i
THEOLOGY AND THE FIRST THEORY OF SACRIFICE
NUMEN BOOK SERIES
STUDIES IN THE HISTORY
OF RELIGIONS
edited by
W.J. HANEGRAAFF
advisory board
P. Antes, M. Despland, RI.J. Hackett, M. Abumalham Mas, A.W. Geertz,
G. ter Haar, G.L. Lease, M.N. Getui, I.S. Gilhus, P. Morris, J.K. Olupona,
E. Thomassen, A. Tsukimoto, A.T. Wasim
VOLUME XCVIII
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THEOLOGY AND THE
FIRST THEORY OF
SACRIFICE
BY
IVAN STRENSKI
BRILL
LEIDEN •BOSTON
2003
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This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Strenski, Ivan.
Theology and the first theory of sacriface / by Ivan Strenski.
p. cm. — (Numen book series. Studies in the history of religions,
ISSN 0169-8834 ; v. 98)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-13559-6 (alk. paper)
1. Sacrifce—Christianity—History of doctrines. I. Title. II. Studies
in the history of religions ; 98.
BT263.S77 2003
291.3’4—dc21 2003052252
ISSN 0169-8834
ISBN 90 04 13559 6
© Copyright 2003 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
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use is granted by Brill provided that
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Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910
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Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
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v
For Joe
“A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature.”
(Emerson)
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ...................................................................... xi
C O Public Discourse and Theory of Sacrifice .............. 1
1. Sacrifice and Moral Discourse ...................................... 1
2. When Sacrifice Was Religious ...................................... 7
3. Theorizing and Historicizing Theories .......................... 12
4. The “First Theory” of Sacrifice .................................... 17
5. The Religious Factor and the Plan of this Book ........ 27
C T French Sacrifice, Catholic Eucharist .................... 32
1. Uninvited Guests ............................................................ 32
2. Catholic Sacrificial Discourse and the Theology
of the Eucharist .............................................................. 34
3. Sacrifice Nationalized: Revolution and
Counter-Revolution ........................................................ 42
4. “La Mystique” ................................................................ 45
5. Durkheimians and Catholics .......................................... 49
6. Transgression and the ‘Catholic’ Bataille .................... 53
7. Peace at Any Price? Or the Resentments of
René Girard .................................................................... 60
8. René Girard and Social Justice .................................... 64
C T World without Theory, Amen .......................... 69
1. Theory “Malgré tout” .................................................... 69
2. The “Revenge of the Reformation” in the
Fifth Section .................................................................... 79
3. Who Were the Liberal Protestant “Extremists”? ........ 80
4. Meaningless Rituals, Impious Bribes, Dead Pasts
and Bad Religions .......................................................... 85
5. The Bible, Tylor and Robertson Smith ...................... 93
6. The Theological Dialectics of Sacrifice:
Tylor and Smith ............................................................ 96
7. For Reasons of Method ................................................ 102
8. Robertson Smith among the Theory-leery .................. 105
9. ‘Scientific’ History, Positivist History,
Protestant History .......................................................... 109
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viii 
10. Vernes and the Politics of Methodology ...................... 114
11. Appreciating Ernest Renan ............................................ 116
12. Renan and the Civic Uses of Positivism ...................... 120
C F Bringing Theory (and Theology) Back In ............ 122
1. Vernes and the Historicism Too Historicist ................ 122
2. Evolution as Cryptic Theology ...................................... 126
3. Albert Réville, Tiele and Comparative Study of
Religions .......................................................................... 128
4. “Modern Theology”: Why Albert Réville Thought
He Was Right ................................................................ 131
5. Tiele and Theory: Morphology Becomes
Theology .......................................................................... 134
6. Tiele’s Theory of Sacrifice as a Theology of
Sacrifice ............................................................................ 138
7. On Still Not Theorizing Sacrifice ................................ 140
8. World War and the New Politics of Sacrifice ............ 144
C F Conspiracy/Theory and the Goodness of Society .... 152
1. Plots and Skirmishes ...................................................... 152
2. Hubert and Mauss against the “Science of
Religion” .......................................................................... 157
3. Durkheimian “Foxes” and Protestant “Lions”
in the Fifth Section ........................................................ 165
4. Ritual Is Religion Made Flesh ...................................... 171
5. Theorizing Sacrificial Gift .............................................. 173
6. Theorizing the Sacrificial Past ...................................... 176
7. Religion Is Relatively Good, So Sacrifice
Is Too .............................................................................. 181
C S Imagining Sacrifice ................................................ 192
1. Familiarity and Contempt: Loisy and the
Durkheimians .................................................................. 192
2. Loisy’s Historicism .......................................................... 196
3. Loisy’s Theology and Public Discourse ........................ 198
4. Inventing Sacrifice or Finding It? .................................. 202
5. Both Finding and Inventing Sacrifice? .......................... 207
6. Wobbly Theory Meets Wavering Positivism ................ 210
7. Comparison and the Key to Theory ............................ 216
8. Duchesne, the ‘Primitives’ and Sacrifice ...................... 219
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 ix
C S Epistemology and the Study of Religion .............. 229
1. Power and Principle .......................................................... 229
2. Theology, Theory and Post-Modernity .......................... 236
3. Theology and Epistemology in Their Places .................. 237
Index .......................................................................................... 245