Animal Sacrifice and the Death Penalty

by Giosuè Ghisalberti

Publisher:

Wipf and Stock

, 2021

The slaughter of animals as a religious ritual and the execution of human beings as a judicial one was an interrelated phenomenon in the ancient world. Writings from different traditions had to be interpreted in relation to each other for the connection between two sacred rituals to be made. The history of the death penalty within the textual traditions of Judaism and ancient Greece could be traced to specific commandments beginning in Genesis and in laws specified as early as in Hesiod's Theogony--in each case, however, with far from unambiguous conclusions despite their divine origins in YHWH or Zeus. An ever-present uncertainty in the nature of the death penalty pervades the writings of the Bible from Genesis to the Gospels of Jesus, as well as in the mytho-poetic world of Hesiod, the tragedy of Aeschylus, and Socratic philosophy as represented in Plato's dialogues. Scholarship has not considered the importance of these two interrelated traditions insofar as both expose the specific characteristics of violence and killing within the institutions of religion and the law. The creation of religious rituals and the acts of the law are inseparable and essential to the authority of the politico-religious state. Animal sacrifice and the death penalty serve as the pillars of social legitimacy in the ancient world.

Praise for Animal Sacrifice and the Death Penalty

“Writing in the wake of an influential group of scholars concerned with sacrifice—Walter Burkert, René Girard, Jean-Pierre Vernant, and Marcel Detienne—Ghisalberti revisits some of our founding narratives in order to shine light on fundamental assumptions that have remained, conveniently, unquestioned to our day. Whether it is the creation story of Genesis, Cain, Prometheus, or the death of Socrates, Ghisalberti’s masterly reframing of these stories unearths dynamics that continue to impact us today.”

—John Caruana, Ryerson University



“An essential book that presents new alternatives to common interpretations of Cain and Abel, Jesus and the resurrection, humans and animals, crime and punishment, and other historical, philosophical, and theological concepts. Ghisalberti offers a fresh, eye-opening, truly original reading of biblical texts and related literature. The careful, innovative, often surprising juxtaposition of Hebrew and Greek sources is enhanced by a remarkably effective process of argumentation and an admirable moral vision.”

—Gilad Elbom, Oregon State University



“In this book, Ghisalberti provides us with a new lens through which we can look at familiar texts in an unfamiliar way. And it is a lens well worth looking through, as biblical concepts of death, sacrifice, blood, and ritual are all reexamined and reframed.”

—Nathan Radke, coauthor of Ethical Perspectives

Product Details

• Title: Animal Sacrifice and the Death Penalty
• Author: Giosuè Ghisalberti
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Print Publication Date: 2021
• Logos Release Date: 2021
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9781666703894, 9781666703870, 9781666703887, 1666703893, 1666703877, 1666703885
• Resource ID: LLS:9781666703894
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T19:48:20Z

About the Author

Giosuè Ghisalberti teaches in the Liberal Studies Department of Humber College, Toronto. His recent scholarly work has focused on the ancient Mediterranean world. The present work on animal sacrifice and the death penalty is the continuation of an earlier work, Soteriology and the End of Animal Sacrifice. He is presently working on a study of Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy.