Sacrifice In Religion & In General... HISTORIANS NEEDED HERE!

[The Tennessee Kid]

Hey, i am looking for some details on sacrifice in religion, just trying to incorporate it into my novel, but i basically need some details. I have the september 11th attacks, but i can't think of anymore, anyone think of any? Please help. thanks

 

[j d worthington]

Sacrifice in religion? Depends on what you're talking about. Animal? Human? Symbolic? Sacrifice is a part of nearly all religions with any lengthy history (think of Abraham and Isaac, for example). What sort of thing are you looking at? A fantasy piece set in historical or even prehistoric times, but ones about which we have a fair amount of knowledge? Or a completely different world? We need more information before we can give you a manageable answer, as the general "sacrifice in religion" could cover several hundred pages of instantiation.

 

[PoeticExplosion]

Sacrifice to "appease the God(s)":

Judaism, Ancient Greeks and Romans, Hindus, and many more.

Human sacrifice "to appease the God(s)":

Either Aztec or Mayan culture (can't remember which) is well known for human sacrifice. The Celtic Druids would be another example.

Voluntary sacrifice by the faithful:

For Christian examples see "Foxe's Book of Martyrs". Buddhism: see the self-immolation during the Vietnam war. Islam should be obvious.

If you let us know exactly what you mean we can help more.

 

[dustinzgirl]

What do you mean about 9/11, that was not sacrificial...that was idiocy....and, kamikaze....

So, do you mean self-sacrifice to gain rewards in the afterlife?
Or, do you mean human sacrifice to appease an angry god?

 

[Susan Boulton]

If you are going to use an existing religion, then, sorry, nothing for it but to get out the books and do the research into the nature of that religion, its take on sacrifice, whether to their deity/deities, or in the name of that religion i.e. in protection of it, support of it etc...

But warned, though, get it right you will offend people. Get in wrong you will offend people. 99% will email, write or phone, the other 1% will tell you in person.

If you want to use an existing religion as a template for a made up one, again you need to research and through that research create a religion that works for your characters. R Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series shows how it can be done....

To be honest most fictional writing is research, plus imagination plus the craft of writing, get the balance right and you are there, almost.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Human sacrifice wasn't too rare in the ancient world - even the Romans, when feeling really threatened, weren't adverse to human sacrifice.

 

[dustinzgirl]

Human sacrifice wasn't too rare in the ancient world - even the Romans, when feeling really threatened, weren't adverse to human sacrifice.

Was it the romans or the greeks that smeared virgins with goo and let bulls have at them? I'm not sure if that is myth or fact, but the force of it always stayed in my head for some reason.

 

[The Tennessee Kid]

Well, the storyline is that to keep the gate to hell closed, basically there has to be a sacrifice for christianity, ie jesus, and I am looking towards making other sacrifices part of this storyline aswell. Just as long as they can be justified as being for christianity.


Isn't called Martyrdom? Anybody know of any famous martyrs? From any religion?

Josh x

 

[dustinzgirl]

So, you are wanting a character to sacrifice themselves for the story plot, right?

That is kind of martyr but, martyrs are traditionally killed for thier beliefs by an opposing force.

You are looking more for a saint or hero.

Jesus was a martyr because he was killed. Same with Joan of Arc and several others.

http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Projects/Reln91/Blood/sacrificemainpage.htm

SOME good stuff there

If you need some thoughts/theories on Christian sacrifice:

http://www.themoorings.org/life/basics/sacr.html

Also, just use google. It works, and while not everything will be right and valid, you can always find good stories just cruising for ideas.

 

[Asmer20]

The ancient Aztecs were great sacrifices in the andes. They would send a girl or so to the top of the mountain and let her roast, so it's not just religion, but ancient civilizations as well.

 

[The Tennessee Kid]

Well, the basic storyline i am going for is that a character realises in order to keep the gate to hell closed they must sacrifice themselves for other peoples sins like Jesus did for our sins. So i was looking to say that people overtime have sacrificed themselves for their religion in order to keep the gate to hell closed. Thanks, please help me lol

Josh x

 

[Carolyn Hill]

Hmm. Well, Sir James G. Frazer's The Golden Bough is full of information about people who served as scapegoats (killed to wipe out others' sins) and people who represented gods and goddesses who were killed ritualistically to bring back the sun, wipe out evil, renew crops, and so on. That's not too far from closing the gates of hell.

If you are looking for ideas about rites and all the trappings (including the magical reasoning) that might go into a hell-closing-via-human-sacrifice scene, Frazer is a good place to look.

 

[littlemissattitude]

One book you might find helpful is Human Sacrifice - in history and today, by Nigel Davies. It was published by Morrow in 1981. Not sure if it is in print at the moment, as I couldn't find any new copies available on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. However, B&N had several used copies available, priced from really reasonable to completely outrageous. Also, I'd check your local library system. My county library system has it, and it isn't that great a system, so I'd say you would stand a pretty good chance of finding a copy or getting one through an interlibrary loan.

It is an interesting book, fairly academic in nature (not too sensationalistic) but written in an extremely readable style.

 

[Aes]

What do you mean about 9/11, that was not sacrificial...that was idiocy....and, kamikaze....

I think he's referring to the side of the suicide bombers. To them, they were sacrificing a few of their men to further the cause they believe in. I'd say that counts as voluntary sacrifice.

 

[j d worthington]

There's plenty of stuff out there. Brown Rat is quite right in suggesting Frazer -- he's one of the best source materials for this sort of thing. Also very easy to find either new or used, and inexpensive.

But the facts of sacrifice aside, I see problems with the basic idea. Be careful how you handle it -- not worrying about offending people, as once you start worrying about that, you can find yourself tied up in knots -- but because, frankly, this sort of idea has been done to death in fantasy, horror, adventure stories, and the like. It has a terrible tendency to become trite, and that's something you'll want to avoid. You're going to have to be very careful to make it believable; and that's going to require some really strong characters that completely eschew stereotypical behavior, speech, and motivation. Otherwise you're in danger of simply doing a rehash of what's been done more times than I can count.

I'd say go for it, but do your very best to be completely original in handling this situation. The situation itself is old hat, but it's possible you can bring your own freshness to it and give it some new life nonetheless.

 

[dwndrgn]

you may want to continue this discussion over at chronicles' sister site, comparative-religion. The members are very knowledgeable and willing to share that knowledge.

Best of luck to you!

 

[littlemissattitude]

In view of some of j. d.'s comments in his most recent post here, how would it affect your story if, instead of having to sacrifice him or herself, it becomes evident that your protagonist must sacrifice someone very near to them to accomplish his/her purpose?

Feel free to ignore this; it was just something that came to mind as I read j.d.'s post.

 

[j d worthington]

I find that to be a very slight shift that works wonders. Don't know if it's where the writer wants to go, but I think it's rather elegant. An added note of tragedy/guilt for doing something that is nonetheless (from the view of the majority) a noble deed -- a moral/ethical/emotional crucifixion, if you will.