Abstract
Can there be a constructive Christian appropriation of understandings of religious sacrifice from another religious tradition? As far back as the first-century letter to the Hebrews, Christians defined the efficacy of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice over and against previous sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem, and in subsequent centuries have argued that Christ’s sacrifice is an unrepeatable historical act manifesting God’s favor to human beings. Unless Christian theologians are willing to take the path of liberal pluralism and concede that the sacrifice offered through Jesus of Nazareth is one species within a genus of soteriological possibilities, an epiphenomenon of an underlying reconciliation equally present in various religious traditions, one is hard pressed to understand how the Christian doctrine of atonement represents anything but an impasse in interreligious dialogue.
Recommended Citation
Denny, Christopher
(2013)
"Christians and Vedic Sacrifice: Comparing Communitarian Sacrificial Soteriologies,"
Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies:
Vol. 26, Article 8.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1547