El sacrificio cristiano como factor de autoexclusión

Abstract

It is remarkable that terms hailing from the context of polytheist sacrifice are used in the formulation of Christian sacrifice. Traditionally, this apparent paradox was addressed through an evolutionary logic that interpreted Christian sacrifice as the summit of evolution from the «sacrifice-gift» to the «sacrifice of god». A review of this theory is the starting point of this paper that then analyses the christianization of sacrifice, in the context of its reinterpretation of this ritual, keystone of polytheist piety. Following an autoexcluding logic, Christianity mystified the ritual by laying the sacrificial role upon the hands of God, thus giving birth to a whole new cosmic order. Nevertheless, as a fully comprehensive religious system, Christianity could not come up with a solely spiritual alternative; therefore, when commemorating Christ's sacrifice, the ritual maintained a number of material connotations, which increased in proportion to the institutionalization of Church.