Sacrifice, Scripture, and Substitution: Readings in Ancient Judaism and Christianity. Edited by ANN W. ASTELL and SANDOR GOODHART.

Abstract

Astell and Goodhart hope to redress the lack of ‘serious engagement’ with René Girard by biblical scholars and cultural anthropologists (p. 19). The introduction is long-winded and dense, but most of the articles are readable and could be used in seminary classes. The book is divided into ‘Sacrifice’, comprising an interview with Girard and eight articles, and ‘Scripture’, comprising twelve articles that test Girardian theory against particular biblical texts. The Girard interview will help newcomers get the basics of his theory, but does not seem to say anything new. Girard continues to make a totalizing claim for his theory, stating ‘there is no great scientific discovery that is not systematic. Only systematic thinking works’ (p. 58). The eight articles that follow deal with aspects of sacrifice or Eucharist, but have little to do with Girardian theory. The article by Ryba offers some useful discussion of substitution and equivalency, but then bogs down in dense mathematical formulae for sacrificial exchange. Ryba draws on multiple theories of sacrifice, without sufficient distinction: the animal is a substitute for the human (p. 90), is a meal shared with God (p. 94); the blood is purificatory … or apotropaic (p. 95) … or (in the Eucharist) metamorphic (p. 98). Fishbane’s article covers rabbinic texts where repentance or Torah study act ‘as if (ke-’ilu)’ one had offered sacrifices (pp. 121–6), even atoning for sins that sacrifices could not (p. 135).