A history of Christian sacrifice

What's the role that sacrifice has played in the history of Christianity? It's a history that might be more complex and more surprising than we think. Jonathan Sheehan's latest book is On the Altar, A History of Sacrifice from the Sacred to the Secular, and in this episode of the History Extra podcast, he tells Charlotte Vosper about how sacrifice has sat at the centre of Christianity from its very beginnings. Your book on the altar is about the history of sacrifice in Christianity, from the ancient world to the modern day. But before we dive into that long history, what do we mean by sacrifice?

What are we referring to when we use that word? Well, so sacrifice is a pretty strange thing. On the one hand, it's something that seems utterly simple. You give up something that's precious to you in the name of or in the hope of something else, something better. But on the other hand, practically, it's this incredibly complicated thing.

When we focus on the things that get sacrificed, there are lots and lots of things that get sacrificed, but not everything gets sacrificed. It seems like people in general have wanted to sacrifice domestic animals, cows and pigs. But not all domestic animals. So rarely do people sacrifice cats and dogs, for example. And then there's lots of other things we mean by sacrifice.

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