One doesn't have to drag in Odhinn and medieval theologians like Abelard and Bernard for a human sacrifice reading of the execution of Jesus. John hits you in the face with it in his gospel.
In the Exodus story, lambs were sacrificed and their blood spread on the doors of the Hebrews so that the Angel of Death won't kill their first-born sons, as happens to those of the Egyptians. In making Jesus the "Lamb of God", John is actually taking several steps backward to earlier Canaanite practice, which had long been rejected by the Jews, but is reflected in the Exodus story. (The "Binding of Isaac" story (Gen. 22) can be read as a specific rejection of the practice of sacrifice of the first-born son.)
As far as Jesus' "sacrifice" replacing the Temple sacrifices, I would argue that the Temple services were, to some degree, already obsolete on some level for the Jews. If they weren't, Judaism wouldn't have survived the sacking of Jerusalem by Titus.
Recommended reading:
W. F. Albright. Yahweh and the Gods of Cannaan: A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1968.
Patrick Tierney. The Highest Altar : the Story of Human Sacrifice. (New York : Viking, 1989.) This book has a discussion of "foundational sacrifices," which seems to be what you're talking about in the paragraph before the quote from Hebrews.
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timeasmymeasure
Jesus as human sacrifical victim
Date: 2004-03-09 09:19 am (UTC)In the Exodus story, lambs were sacrificed and their blood spread on the doors of the Hebrews so that the Angel of Death won't kill their first-born sons, as happens to those of the Egyptians. In making Jesus the "Lamb of God", John is actually taking several steps backward to earlier Canaanite practice, which had long been rejected by the Jews, but is reflected in the Exodus story. (The "Binding of Isaac" story (Gen. 22) can be read as a specific rejection of the practice of sacrifice of the first-born son.)
As far as Jesus' "sacrifice" replacing the Temple sacrifices, I would argue that the Temple services were, to some degree, already obsolete on some level for the Jews. If they weren't, Judaism wouldn't have survived the sacking of Jerusalem by Titus.
Recommended reading:
W. F. Albright. Yahweh and the Gods of Cannaan: A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1968.
Patrick Tierney. The Highest Altar : the Story of Human Sacrifice. (New York : Viking, 1989.) This book has a discussion of "foundational sacrifices," which seems to be what you're talking about in the paragraph before the quote from Hebrews.