Le fait religieux sacrificiel comme révélateur de présupposés éthiques et théologiques

Abstract

For over a century, historians of religion have interrogated the notion of sacrifice. After several attempts at theorisation, it seems now more appropriate to challenge any theoretical approach, and even to criticize the validity of the category of sacrifice. Despite this significant epistemological evolution, some presuppositions remain. They are theological and confessional in analyses of biblical sacrifice and, more surprisingly, secular and ethical in analyses of ancient sacrifice. However, freed from such presuppositions, an anthropological study of sacrifice is possible and desirable.

Keywords

• animal sacrifice
• human sacrifice
• monotheism
• offering
• polytheism
• sacrifice