RELS 331 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Apostolic Succession, Partzufim, Tutsi
19 Mar 2014
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Document Summary
The utilization of violence relating to sacrificial ceremonies has been used throughout history in numerous ancient as well as modern religions and cultures as a means of creating human solidarity within communities. From such varying perspectives as those described in writing by maurice. Bloch, nancy jay, and rene girard, it can be seen that a single theory of sacrifice and how it affects religion and state can be synthesized. In each case elements of a transcendent purpose and the act of unifying a community can be identified as well as a similar methodology within the act of violence itself. All three writers acknowledge that the main objective of a ritual sacrifice in any culture is to create a sense of unity within a community, usually as a result of a crisis situation (girard 1986). Within such communities, whether they be religious or ethnic, there exists a social order that governs everyday life.
