philosophy

Gong

1

Kelly Gong

Professor Valentine

PHIL 202 OL

16 April 2020

THE ASPECT OF SACRIFICE IN RELIGION

I. Introduction

Working Thesis: Though sacrifices play an important role in Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam, these religions view and offer sacrifices in their unique ways.

Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists offer objects as sacrifices to a divine being to establish a human relationship to the sacred one, to maintain, or restore the relationship. The common object for sacrifice in all religions is animal sacrifice.

According to Weddle, “sacrifice is pervasive in religions of Abraham” (27). He claims that instructions on sacrifice fill chapters of the Hebrew Bible that are read in places of worship. Christians celebrate the death of Jesus as a sacrifice for their sins in the Roman Catholic church and other Protestant churches while Muslims put animals to death each year in obedience to a divine command.

II. Body: Paragraph (1) Christianity

Christians view the crucifixion of Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice to human beings (MacArthur 98). Christians believe that Jesus sacrificed His life and that his death occurred as the ultimate expiation of Christians’ sins and that the sacrifice annulled the need for sacrifices for their sins.

The idea of sacrifice emerged in the early Christian communities in contexts like the death of Christ on the cross (MacArthur 102). The love of Christ for Christians and his death was seen as a perfect sacrifice for Christians’ sins and His resurrection and glorification were seen as God’s approval of that life.

Christians view the death of Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice for their sins. Their sins were cleansed but people still sin and the sacrifice of Jesus does not validate their sins because they are forgiven by God.

III. Body: Paragraph (2) Buddhism

Buddhists do not believe in offering sacrifices to get something from their divine being as it is in other religions like in Christianity where sacrifices help to establish, maintain or restore a relationship with their divine being. Buddhists offer sacrifices because it is human nature to help (Appleton 197).

In the Buddhism religion, we can see the concept of sacrifice through stories like the Jakata stories of the Buddha’s previous birth accounts of his self-sacrifice where he sacrificed his life to save others (Appleton 207).

The Buddhist view of sacrifice is that an individual should sacrifice their object or animal to help another person. Their view of sacrifice is real because it can be felt and it is done through action and the benefits seen through actions and not based on beliefs.

IV. Body: Paragraph (3) Islamic religion

Based on the teachings of the Quran, Muslims view sacrifice as any act which might bring a Muslim closer to God (Azizi et al. 132). Muslims offer animal sacrifice where they mostly slaughter goats on Eid to offer sacrifice to their divine being.

In the Islam religion, sacrifice is traced to the story of Abel and Cain referred to in the Quran as Habil and Qabil (Azizi et al. 140). Abel sacrificed a sheep for God while Cain offered a part of the crops of his land as a sacrifice.

In the Islamic religion, sacrifice is based on religions of Abraham and Muslims offer sacrifices to bring them closer to God. The main aim of their sacrifices is to maintain a close relationship with God based on religious beliefs articulated in the Quran (Azizi et al. 133).

V. Conclusion

In Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam, the offering of sacrifices in form of food, objects, and animal lives to a divine being is important because it is an act of worship and establishes a bond between the sacrificer and the sacred power (Weddle 16).

The Christianity religion, Buddhism, and Islam religion are notably different on the aspect of religious sacrifice and deserve individualized attention because of their different views of sacrifice and the way sacrifice is offered.

Very solid outline. I made a few corrections in red. I look forward to the essay.

Works Cited

Appleton, Naomi. Jataka stories in Theravada Buddhism: narrating the bodhisattva path. Routledge, 2016.

Azizi, Bita, et al. "Analysis of behavioral components sacrifice with an approach to the Quran and Hadith." پاسداري فرهنگي انقلاب اسلامي 15 (2018).‎

MacArthur, John F. Hebrews: Christ: Perfect Sacrifice, Perfect Priest. Thomas Nelson, 2016.

Weddle, David L. Sacrifice in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. NYU Press, 2017.