Kind Of Sacrifice Research Articles

The power of sacrifice and word in Igbo magical powers

Sacrifice is a religious act in which an object is offered to supernatural beings in order to build up, maintain or restore a right relationship of men to pure or perfect order. It is an essential means of restitution of vital force. Sacrifice is an important aspect of every religion and occultic practices. Magicians are seen performing different kinds of sacrifices. These sacrifices are performed at different times of the day; in the morning, at noon and/or in the midnight when everyone including spirits are believed to must have returned from their daily engagements. While offering sacrifices, the magician utters words, incantations and prayers. The word is indispensable in the practice of magic. Considering the inevitability of these two; sacrifice and the word in the magician's practice of his calling, one begins to wonder what role they play. What is the role of sacrifices in magical powers? Why are these sacrifices performed with vocalized prayers? Are uttered words really indispensable in the practice of magic? Why are most of their prayers and supplications during the sacrifice voiced? A hermeneutic approach to this study reveals that sacrifice revitalizes the potency and the efficacy of the magic and also a way of manipulating nature to achieve the magician's goal. It also shows that voiced words of prayer are more potent than silent words of prayer.

Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought

Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought

Sindh’s Participation in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) in Pakistan (1981-1988)

In Pakistan’s history of political movements, the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) has a unique place. MRD was not only one of the strongest movements in Pakistan’s political history but also the only political movement which was launched at a time when the military dictator was at the peak of his rule. All the witnesses and research show MRD was most popular in the Sindh province and Sindh was at the forefront of this movement. But strangely so far very little academic research is done focusing on the role of Sindh in the MRD movement. This study focuses on how Sindh became the epicenter of the MRD movement and what kinds of sacrifices were made by the people of Sindh for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was surely one of the leading parties of MRD and her leading role in MRD movement is already well researched. With the help of vernacular sources this research unearths which other political parties and political activists of Sindh took active part in the MRD movement and played key role in making it a mass movement as far as the Sindh province is concerned

Leaning in or opting out? Women’s choices in Little Women and Mary Queen of Scots

ABSTRACT This article considers the recent films Mary Queen of Scots and Little Women in the light of their use of historical contexts to reflect on the experiences of modern women. The self-consciously modern and feminist presentations of the female characters are considered, with the different choices they make discussed in the light of the plurality of postfeminism. Analysis of both films considers the tension between the pull of domestic life and the desire for a public role, in the light of feminist writing that encourages women to believe that they can “have it all”. This article argues that, whilst the impressive women depicted in both films can be seen as empowering for modern female viewers, female success in both films requires significant sacrifice and compromise, undermining the idea that it is possible for women to have fulfilling lives in both the public and the domestic sphere. The article concludes that the singularity of the women depicted, whilst in some ways pleasurable and empowering, is ultimately unhelpful in their suggestion that female ambition can only be fulfilled via the kinds of sacrifice that many women will not be able or inclined to make.

Carrying a Community on Their Shoulders: Virgil’s Aeneas and the Duty of Healthcare Workers

The term “duty’ has occurred frequently in discussions about the role of healthcare professionals in the current pandemic. Duty can take multiple forms in the professional and private worlds of those working to save the lives of others. At times, different forms of duty create confliciting demands, necessitating some kind of sacrifice. This dilemma is not new; it was a central theme of Virgil’s Aeneid, the best known epic poem of ancient Rome. Statues and paintings of a scene from this poem, in which a man carries his father on his shoulders to safety from a burning city, became the most common representation of duty in Rome after the first century BCE and were frequently copied in later ages. Examining how Virgil’s poem and these images communicate the rewards, complexity, ambiguity, and costs of duty can contribute to our understanding of the experiences of those who work to heal others in this lethal pandemic. Like Aeneas, the mythical Roman, healthcare workers have been called heroes of duty as they are asked to carry their entire communities on their shoulders.

Self Actualization in a Novel by Andrea Hirata’s Laskar Pelangi

The purpose of this research is to describe the fulfillment of needs as a process of self-actualization of the main characters who support in the form of business, difficulties, and achievement.This research is a qualitative research with descriptive method. The data used in this study is verbal, in the form of words, phrases or sentences obtained from research data sources, namely the text of the novel Laskar Pelangi by Andrea Hirata.The research results show that Ikal was able to actualize himself by getting a scholarship to study abroad after going through various failures such as being a badminton athlete and writer. Previously, Ikal succeeded in fulfilling the first stage, namely his physiological needs by working as a letter sorter. Second, the security needs achieved by relying on his own abilities so that Ikal feels safe when doing his work even though he must have discrimination from the head of the expedition.Third, the attainment of love needs and the existence achieved in a way loving his childhood friend, the love of his best friend, and family even by making various kinds of sacrifice. Fourth, Ikal can achieve the appreciation needs by equip himself with some knowledge so as to get praise from the jury even though he previously had difficulty in dividing time between study and work.Key Words: physiological needs, security needs, love and presence needs, appreciation needs, and self-actualization needs.

From the Editors

The title subject matter of this Issue 27 of our quarterly “Perspectives on Culture” is likely to direct the Reader’s intuition toward philosophical re­flection. And rightly so. The basic dictionary definition of “identity” pro­vides one meaning of the term signifying a state of being identical, and further, implies the facts, features, and personal information allowing one to identify a person. However, a deeper, humanistic and social definition refers to the area of self-awareness, but also a sense of unity with the com­munity, and the elements that determine it. These elements are especially culture, values, and finally, the community itself as seen in the metaphysi­cal dimension, i.e., high moral and religious ideals. Two authors–philosophers, Agata Płazińska, and Piotr Duchliński from the Ignatianum Uni­versity, propose their reflections on the metaphysical and culture-building nature of self-sacrifice as represented by the lives and deaths of Edith Stein and Simone Weil, and the meaning of self‑sacrifice in the name of higher values. In our culture, such value might lie in giving one’s life for another human being. It is a kind of sacrifice which can be described as an abso­lute one. Contrary to the present crisis in metaphysics and axiology, such “absolute acts” are essential and indelible elements of identity in our cul­ture. In the second text, Fr. Mariusz Szram from the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin goes back many centuries, to the time of the Fathers of the Church, to explore the theological reflection on creating a monu­mental cohesion of Semitic and Hellenic thought, defining the identity of Christianity. Two other interesting analyses in our title section are Chris­tian Identity of a Teacher of Early Education in the Contemporary World by Ewelina Kurowicka-Roman (KUL JPII) and Shaping the National Identity of the Youth in the Polish Scouting Association (ZHP) by Kamil Roman (also from the Catholic University of Lublin).

The Phenomenology of Sacrifice in Marion, Patočka and Nancy

Abstract The phenomenon of sacrifice has been analyzed by Hegel, Kierkegaard, Bataille and many other philosophers. In my paper I intend to examine this phenomenon from the phenomenological point of view as outlined by Jan Patočka, Jean-Luc Nancy and Jean-Luc Marion. With their help I differentiate several kinds of sacrifice (strategic, moral, political, and religious), but above all, I am interested in the limits of sacrifice. Provided that the fields of morality, politics and religion are opened by sacrifice, is there any morality, politics and religion without one? And if so, what is the meaning of morality, politics and religion that are not based on some kind of sacrifice? These questions seem essential in our time, when the meaning of sacrifice is compromised by acts of terrorism. It is relatively easy to denounce terrorism and its propaganda, which uses the concept of martyrdom, as an inauthentic approach to the experience of sacrifice (Marion). But how can we break its spell if we believe that sacrifice brings our existence to completeness (Patočka)? How can we avoid inauthentic forms of sacrifice, if we believe that without sacrifice we must fall into nihilism and indifference?

II

II Julie Hanlon Rubio4 This year marks the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae and of all of the various responses by clergy and lay people that followed its publication. The division that was so evident then remains with us now. In 2018, progressive Catholics remembered HV as a symbol of a church that refuses to listen to the experiences of the laity and the arguments of trained theologians. Traditional Catholics celebrated the opening of a path toward the renewal of sexual ethics which began with Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body, and pointed to widespread evidence confirming Paul VI’s prophetic vision regarding the consequences of approving artificial birth control (i.e., marital infidelity, decreasing respect for women, declining morals, and government imposition of contraception). Rarely do the two camps engage each other. Rarely do they turn together to engage the world. The brief document that is subject of this roundtable, “Pastoral Approaches,” was written by members of the papal birth control commission and submitted to Paul VI along with the majority report, the minority report, and the response to the minority report at the conclusion of the commission in 1966. Along with the other documents, it was anonymously leaked to two news organizations and the National Catholic Reporter broke the story in July 1967. According to theologian Joseph Selling, it was “approved by the cardinals and bishops of the Commission to complement the final report. That report, being of a technical, theological nature, was felt by some prelates to be difficult for the layperson to understand. Thus, they asked for a more pastorally oriented, easily understandable statement to serve as an introduction [End Page 9] to the theological report and possibly as a basis for an official pronouncement on the matter.”3 Though brief, the document is much more pastoral in tone and content than the commission’s other documents or HV. The vision it presents had the potential to inspire good conversation on sexual practice. It led me to wonder, “What if Catholics had engaged in the conversation and formation the document seeks to begin? Would we still be so divided? Would we have a better chance of engaging in dialogue with the world?” This last question is particularly important in light of the #MeToo, #SilenceIsNotSpiritual, and #ChurchToo moment which began in the fall of 2017 and continues to unfold. These movements have brought to light not only the reality that sexual violence is still a far too prevalent feature of women’s lives, but also that scripts of dominance and disrespect which result in what has been dubbed “bad sex” are a normal part of many women’s sexual experience. Unfortunately, churches are not often spaces where women can count on support, let alone prophetic speech. Catholics have not been major voices in the recent public conversation on sexual violence and bad sex. The Catholic public sexual ethics presence is limited to discussion on contraception. With a few notable exceptions, Catholics have not shown up for women the way they have for other vulnerable populations. And because we have not shown up, we have missed an opportunity to lead a public conversation that goes beyond consent to the deeper problems brought to light in this heart-breaking public story-telling moment. But what if “Pastoral Approaches” had been adopted and implemented? How might that have changed things? The document points us to three key questions: What is sex for? What is marriage for? What kind of sacrifice is necessary in a good life? What is sex for? Much attention has focused on HV’s claim on the inseparability of the two purposes of sex. “Pastoral Approaches” focuses on the unitive side without diminishing the essential outward facing dimension of fruitfulness. “Sexuality in marriage must be a unifying force,” it says. There is a recognition that this will take time, effort, and growth. “The act of love, like all expressions of intimacy between them, needs to be humanized, progressively refined.” Abstinence still might be called for at times in light of the desires and needs of each person. Love and passion are to be nurtured but discipline is still important. Developing the unitive meaning...

SACRIFICE VS. SUSTENANCE: FOOD AS A BURIAL GOOD IN LATE PRE-IMPERIAL AND EARLY IMPERIAL CHINESE TOMBS AND ITS RELATION FUNERARY RITES

AbstractOne of the medical manuscripts recovered from Tomb No. 3 at Mawangdui (dated 186 b.c.e.) states that, “When a person is born there are two things that need not to be learned: the first is to breathe and the second is to eat.” Of course it is true that all healthy newborn human beings possess the reflexes to breathe and eat. Yet, the implications of death should have been just as obvious to the ancient Chinese. Once the human brain ceases to function, there is no longer a biological need for oxygen and nourishment. Nevertheless, a large number of people in late pre-imperial and early imperial China insisted on burying food and drink with the dead. Most modern commentators take the deposition of food and drink as burial goods to be a rather trite phenomenon that warrants little reflection. To their minds both kinds of deposits were either intended to sustain the spirit of the deceased in the hereafter or simply a sacrifice to the spirit of the deceased. Yet, a closer look at the archaeological evidence suggests otherwise. By tracking the exact location of food and drink containers in late pre-imperial and early imperial tombs and by comprehensively analyzing inscriptions on such vessels in addition to finds of actual food, the article demonstrates that reality was more complicated than this simple either/or dichotomy. Some tombs indicate that the idea of continued sustenance coincided with occasional sacrifices. Moreover, this article will introduce evidence of a third kind of sacrifice that, so far, has gone unnoticed by scholarship. Such data confirms that sacrifices to spirits other than the one of the deceased sometimes were also part of funerary rituals. By paying close attention to food and drink as burial goods the article will put forth a more nuanced understanding of early Chinese burial practices and associated notions of the afterlife.

Ötekilik Sorunu: William Shakespeare’in Othello eserinde “Öteki”nin Temsili

In this article, I deal with otherness, namely foreignness in Shakespearean drama. Particularly, the representation of alterity in Shakespeare’s Othello is the dominant issue throughout. A number of Shakespeare’s plays include a foreign character; however, each of them fulfils a different function. In Shakespeare’s drama, “others” represent more than commonplace “alien” figures. They are ascribed several functions by critics. According to Margo Hendricks, they are caricatures, stereotypes other than real characters. On the other hand, Loomba aptly argues that “others are only figures of speech in Shakespearean drama, conjured up to establish a point of view” . In her view, these outsiders are initially regarded as “footnotes”, that is, they have secondary importance in the theatres; however, later on they gain value as a means to probe the relationship between West and East. In this context Othello, apart from the undesirable “alien” character, undertakes a multi-functional role in community. It is put forward in this study that Othello is two-dimensional in terms of his roles. On the one hand he is “other” who symbolizes, so to speak, the enemies of the “same”. From this aspect, he is assimilated and moulded in accordance with the available order. On the other hand, he is an individual member of the community who undertakes a complementary function that is emphasized throughout. Shakespeare, who stands in between this duality, comes up with the solution of presenting this character as scapegoat. However, that kind of sacrifice does not satisfy the biased audience; on the contrary, the majority ends up sympathizing with the victim. The people’s prejudices show a boomerang effect by turning towards them in the end

The Kosal Movement in Western Odisha: Subregional Sentiments, Countervailing Identities, and Stalemated Subnationalism

This article analyses the Kosala movement in western Odisha in the light of a general model of sub-national movements in India. The popular agitation for a separate State has many of the ingredients of similar separatist movements in other parts of India. It draws on sentiments of discrimination and relative deprivation, for which the activists hold politicians from the more advanced coastal districts of Odisha responsible. Supporters of the movement point towards historical records of powerful kingdoms with all the ritual paraphenalia that go into the making of proto-states. Yet, the articulation of a strong sub-regional voice under the leadership of a political party comparable to the TRS in Telengana is absent. Detailed analysis reveals “Kosala identity” to lack cohesion. It is more a politically convenient label than a cohesive core capable of extracting the kind of sacrifice from participants. Finally, there are powerful countervailing, centripetal forces that act against the tendency towards separatism.

Co-Creator or Creative Predator?

While the Catholic Church’s official teaching on the environment presents a hopeful and comprehensive ecological ethic rooted in the goodness of creation and humanity’s privileged role as co-creator, it does not sufficiently account for the violence of predation and humanity’s necessary participation in it. James Nash’s understanding of humans as altruistic, creative predators can further Catholic ecological ethics because it strikes a better balance between humanity’s call to love creation and the moral ambiguity of the evolutionary process. Humans as creative predators suggests three new understandings of what ecological sacrifice could entail: 1) to see the death of every creature, even if a morally justifiable death, as a kind of sacrifice; 2) to recognize that ecological sustainability may demand dramatic and subversive shifts in behavior; and 3) to sacrifice our tendency to view nonhumans instrumentally by advocating a Biotic Bill of Rights.

Literary Barbed Wire

Literary Barbed Wire

In the Face of Austerity: The Puzzle of Museums and Universities

In the Face of Austerity: The Puzzle of Museums and Universities

How Can Satan Cast Out Satan?: Violence and the Birth of the Sacred in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight

How Can Satan Cast Out Satan? Violence and the Birth of the Sacred in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight1 Nicholas Bott (bio) Last Summer, Christopher Nolan’s final installment of the Batman trilogy hit theaters. The Dark Knight Rises promised to be the epic conclusion of a hero’s journey, a journey of a man’s transformation into a legend. Little was revealed in the official trailers, except that evil was rising in Gotham City, and so too must The Batman. But in this essay I’d like to suggest that we didn’t need to view The Dark Knight Rises before seeing either evil, or Batman rise; by the end of the second film, evil and Batman have already risen—and together—in the sacred form of The Dark Knight. This essay first elucidates how Bruce Wayne’s strategy to inspire good among the citizens of Gotham, first articulated in Batman Begins, encompasses the hallmarks of Girard’s mimetic theory, including: mimesis, rivalry, scandal, and, finally, the outworking of the mimetic mechanism of the surrogate victim—the scapegoat. Next, this essay takes a closer look at the goodness, or lack thereof, of Batman’s climactic self-sacrifice with its attendant resolution. Finally, this essay demonstrates that interpretations [End Page 239] of Batman’s self-sacrifice in the movie have mirrored the disparate interpretations of Christ’s self-sacrifice, in relation to the climax and resolution of the Passion accounts. Mimetic Structure in Bruce Wayne’s Strategy Beginning With the End The final visual the audience is given in The Dark Knight is of Batman escaping on his Batpod. The screenplay’s description of this final scene reads: “The batpod streaks through Gotham’s underground streets, the Batman’s cape fluttering behind. A wraith...”; (TDK, 140).2 Commissioner Gordon’s voice is overheard saying, “... He’s not our hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector, a dark knight” (TDK, 140). Bruce Wayne has sacrificed himself for the sake of Gotham. But what kind of sacrifice has he made?3 In the words of Alfred, “The sacrifice he’s making [is]—to not be a hero. To be something more” (TDK, 73). And Batman has become something more. No longer a hero, the language Commissioner Gordon uses to describe Batman on behalf of Gotham is mythical and sacred. Girard understands this sacralization to be the completion of the surrogate victim mechanism, the satanic process whereby the sacrifice of an innocent scapegoat reconciles a community in the midst of crisis and violent upheaval.4 This sacred vision of Batman represents the final stage of the surrogate victim mechanism, providing evidence that the satanic has been at work. But if this is the case, something has gone terribly awry in Bruce Wayne’s strategy to inspire good. With this conclusion in mind, the flaws in Wayne’s strategy as it develops throughout Batman Begins and The Dark Knight become apparent, and correspond with each step in the mimetic process. Mimesis as Plot Mimesis, or imitation, stands at the heart of The Dark Knight’s plot because it stands at the heart of Bruce Wayne’s strategy to inspire good. We encounter this strategy in Nolan’s first film, Batman Begins, as Wayne explains to Alfred his reasons for returning to Gotham City: Alfred: Are you coming back to Gotham for long, sir? [End Page 240] Bruce: As long as it takes. I want to show the people their city doesn’t belong to the criminals and the corrupt. Alfred: In the depression, your father nearly bankrupted Wayne Enterprises combating poverty. He believed his example could inspire the wealthy of Gotham to save their city. Bruce: Did it? Alfred: In a way. Their murder shocked the wealthy and the powerful into action. Bruce: People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy. I can’t do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man ... I’m flesh and blood, I can be ignored, destroyed. But as a symbol... As a symbol, I can be incorruptible. I can be everlasting. Alfred: What symbol? Bruce: Something elemental, something terrifying. (Batman Begins)5 By invoking the symbolic, Bruce Wayne believes Batman will be...

The Ethics of Emissions Trading

This article defends three ethical arguments against emissions trading. The first argument alleges that emissions trading is morally objectionable, because it ‘commodifies’ the atmosphere. The second argument involves various objections to attaching prices to units of emissions – loosely speaking, the objection is to pricing that which is priceless or should not be priced. The third argument turns on the idea that if a large cut in emissions is to be made by society overall, everyone should ‘do their bit’ by making a particular kind of sacrifice rather than paying others to do it instead. Some general conclusions concern the limitations of confining the analysis to idealised emissions trading, the difficulty in separating ‘economistic’ thinking about policy delivery from policy choice and the need to focus questions of justice on consumers rather than on producers.

When Giving Feels Good

Who benefits most from making sacrifices for others? The current study provides one answer to this question by demonstrating the intrinsic benefits of sacrifice for people who are highly motivated to respond to a specific romantic partner’s needs noncontingently, a phenomenon termed communal strength. In a 14-day daily-experience study of 69 romantic couples, communal strength was positively associated with positive emotions during the sacrifice itself, with feeling appreciated by the partner for the sacrifice, and with feelings of relationship satisfaction on the day of the sacrifice. Furthermore, feelings of authenticity for the sacrifice mediated these associations. Several alternative hypotheses were ruled out: The effects were not due to individuals higher in communal strength making qualitatively different kinds of sacrifices, being more positive in general, or being involved in happier relationships. Implications for research and theory on communal relationships and positive emotions are discussed.

Sacrifice and the Singular

One kind of sacrifice the law undergoes is that of the singular. As discussed by Levinas, Derrida, Agamben and Johann van der Walt, ethics and law must apply norms and rules that are general to the absolutely unique individual, his particular acts and their circumstances. These are subsumed under a rule which at the same time limits their unique characteristics, i.e., sacrifices their particularity. To some extent the law acknowledges this problem and attempts to recuperate the singular through the concept and application of equity. This is, however, never completely successful; there is always a remainder of the singular that is sacrificed. Sacrifice is a very part of the law.

Muslim pilgrimage as education by experience

In Christian tradition, pilgrimage is connected with hardship and sacrifice. It has been used as a penance for penitents. The pilgrimage itself is a kind of sacrifice. The Muslim pilgrimage is different. The atmosphere is serious, but full of confidence. The pilgrimage strengthens faith through the spirit of community with millions of other Muslims, who share the same faith. In that respect it resembles the mass meetings of revivalist Christianity.The pilgrimage means that Muslims are brought together in action, walking, running, praying, throwing pebbles, slaughtering and, most importantly, standing for half a day in the desert. All these experiences are used for education through experience. The pilgrimage is an opportunity to educate the Muslims in religious matters. It is a typical example of ‘learning by doing’. This article elaborates the content of this education as it is performed today. The purpose is twofold: to show how well the pilgrimage is fit for education and to investigate how this opportunity is utilized today. The account is built on contemporary theological literature about Islam. Most of the works are introductions to Islam, written by well-known and esteemed scholars. They are meant to give elementary information about Muslim life. The purpose is not to decide what is right or wrong in the performance, or in the interpretation of the rituals. The purpose is to describe what is taught by the religious leaders today. They seem to regard some traditions as dubious, as they might be perceived as superstitious. They might also have been accused of this by Western scholars. That does not mean that they are superstitious. This article submits a discussion and an analysis of a trend in contemporary Islam.