Human Sacrifice in Jewish and Christian Tradition

European and American scholars investigate the degree to which ancient practices and traditions of human sacrifice are reflected in medieval and modern traditions. In antiquity, they focus especially on rituals of human sacrifice and ancient polemics against it or transformations of it in the Israelite-Jewish and Christian cultures, but they also consider the Ancient Near East and ancient Greece. In modern times they look not only at Jewish and Christian traditions, but also at debates about euthanasia and the death penalty in the western world. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Karin Finsterbusch, Dr. theol. (1994), University of Heidelberg, is Professor for Old Testament Studies at Landau University. She has published recently on Deuteronomy (Weisung fur Israel, Mohr Siebeck 2005).Armin Lange, Dr. theol. (1995), University of Munster, is Professor of Jewish Studies (Second Temple Period) at the University of Vienna. He has published on prophecy (Vom prophetischen Wort zur prophetischen Tradition, Mohr Siebeck 2002) and wisdom texts in the Qumran library (Weisheit und Pradestination, Brill 1995).Diethard Romheld, Dr. theol. (1989), University of Marburg (Germany) is protestant minister in Rheinbach near Bonn. He has published on Prov 22--24 and the Neo-Egyptian Wisdom of Amen-em-Ope (Wege der Weisheit, de Gruyter 1989; Die Weisheitslehre im Alten Orient, Gorg 1989).