'Sacred Sacrifice' examines how analogous mythological ideas and the experience of sacred presence during the ritual act created similar ritual paradigms in two non-contiguous cultures. Vedic fire sacrifice, the Horse sacrifice in ancient India and the sacrificial development of the Christian Eucharist serve as examples. This book takes to task theories on sacrifice and ritual that emphasize the psycho-social and functionalist interpretation to the exclusion of the religious. The relationship between myth and ritual, and conscious and unconscious human behavior emerges from this analysis of universal religious structures.

Author - Dr. Rick F. Talbott

"Sacred Sacrifice" is a much needed contribution to the discussion of ritual. Ritual behavior is a relatively novel subject in religio-historical and anthropological discussion. What makes the present book so important is that it does not get bogged down in external, theoretical jargon, but presents vividly what is actually expressed in the ritual acts performed. Many a reader will say: 'This is a curious book!' It is indeed curious in the sense of it being "remarkably different from uncritically accepted fashions". It is at odds with current, indeed 'politically correct' fads in the Social Sciences and in the Churches. As a result, it touches in a refreshing new way on central issues of Hinduism and Christianity at the same time. Can Jesus Christ be compared to other mediators? Can God become man if we don't know what man is? Can we understand anything of human life without knowing about any sort of meditation? The reader confronts all those issues thanks to Professor Talbott's careful reading of the texts. And after all this, are we all going to agree? Of course not! But we cannot ignore this very new stimulus."
Kees W. Bolle
Read College