The Blood Sacrifice Complex

A reprint of Loeb's 1923 book, including maps.

First Conquer Thyself: Socialization of violence and abuse is often highly structured through the Munchausen Complex. Munchausen Syndrome occurs when an individual harms themselves for attention and self-glorification. Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy is when an individual harms another, usually under their care. Attention and self-glorification are achieved through their victim's subsequent medical treatment. Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy is a crime with a victim. Violence and abuse are often common in families, passed down from one generation to the next and may be termed Transgenerational Munchausen Syndrome as these families expand and their habits are introduced into society. Munchausen Syndrome in Collective Transmission occurs when such practices become an acceptable part of society often eventuating into full acculturation. In this way societies attach themselves to self-glorification with various explanations of justification. A Mandated Report is required to be filed by health care, legal, social service and educational professionals who suspect child abuse, as well as developers of film. As socialized beings, we are often unaware why we think what we think and why we do what we do. Exploring beneath the surface, we may discover we are not who we imagine we are. Are our subtle perversions and aberrations so different from those of the ancients, or other cultures we label primitive? The author was under military orders not to discuss the subjects presented in this part's Mandated Report on child abuse to the social body for the last six years of his U.S. Navy career. Censorship is strong when one questions social norms, folkways and rituals that address issues of identity. Internal, interpersonal and professional conflicts arise.

A fascinating and well-researched look into what we really know about cannibalism.

This volume provides a thorough introduction to the major classic and modern writings dealing with religious sacrifice. Collected here are twenty five influential selections, each with a brief introduction addressing the overall framework and assumptions of its author. As they present different theories and examples of sacrifice, these selections also discuss important concepts in religious studies such as the origin of religion, totemism, magic, symbolism, violence, structuralism and ritual performance. Students of comparative religion, ritual studies, the history of religions, the anthropology of religion and theories of religion will particularly value the historical organization and thematic analyses presented in this collection.

Examining the theme of child sacrifice as a psychological challenge, this book applies a unique approach to religious ideas by looking at beliefs and practices that are considered deviant, but also make up part of mainstream religious discourse in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Ancient religious mythology, which survives through living traditions and transmitted narratives, rituals, and writings, is filled with violent stories, often involving the targeting of children as ritual victims. Christianity offers Abraham's sacrifice and assures us that the “only begotten son” has died, and then been resurrected. This version of the sacrifice myth has dominated the West. It is celebrated in an act of fantasy cannibalism, in which the believers share the divine son's flesh and blood. This book makes the connection between Satanism stories in the 1980s, the Blood Libel in Europe, The Eucharist, and Eastern Mediterranean narratives of child sacrifice.

The history of Jews from the period of the Second Temple to the rise of Islam. From 'A History of the Mishnaic Law of Appointed Times, Part 1' This volume introduces the sources of Judaism in late antiquity to scholars in adjacent fields, such as the study of the Old and New Testaments, Ancient History, the ancient Near East, and the history of religion. In two volumes, leading American, Israeli, and European specialists in the history, literature, theology, and archaeology of Judaism offer factual answers to the two questions that the study of any religion in ancient times must raise. The first is, what are the sources -- written and in material culture -- that inform us about that religion? The second is, how have we to understand those sources in reconstructing the history of various Judaic systems in antiquity. The chapters set forth in simple statements, intelligible to non-specialists, the facts which the sources provide. Because of the nature of the subject and acute interest in it, the specialists also raise some questions particular to the study of Judaism, dealing with its historical relationship with nascent Christianity in New Testament times. The work forms the starting point for the study of all the principal questions concerning Judaism in late antiquity and sets forth the most current, critical results of scholarship.