A feat of research, but overly lofty and inaccessible.
Sacrifice as an essential element in Christian history.
Historian of religion Sheehan provides a weighty treatise on the role of sacrifice in Christianity. The author makes note that whereas sacrifice has been an integral part of virtually every culture and religion through time, Christianity’s approach to the topic has been unique. “From early on,” he explains, “Christianity both abolished and absorbed sacrifice.” In other words, the Christian religion is based on the concept that “God became man in order that He might die, each drop of His innocent blood sufficient to satisfy what we owe to God.” Through that one perfect sacrifice, Christianity teaches, believers are exempt from the need for further sacrifice. Nevertheless, as Sheehan goes on to exhaustively detail, it was never quite that simple. Instead, Christianity built up an “archive” of ideas and practices based on the concept of sacrifice, which in turn molded the faith through time. “Christianity’s archive was (and is) constitutively heteronomous,” the author asserts, in both a distillation of his thesis and a prime example of his ponderous writing style. This “archive” has been ever-growing, is multifaceted, and has gone on to have strong effects on broader cultures, up to the present day. Sheehan’s work can be lauded for its depth of research and rich use of obscure texts. However, it is written exclusively for a specialist, academic audience. The author’s impressive vocabulary and heavy prose will act as a stumbling block to all but the most erudite and committed of readers. His conclusions also grow more and more abstract as the book goes on, ending with the dawn of the age of science in the 19th century.
A feat of research, but overly lofty and inaccessible.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9780691190884
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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