Jesus the Sacrifice

Abstract

Jesus the Sacrifice: A Historical and Theological Study investigates interpretations of Jesus’ death as a sacrifice in the New Testament. Scott Shauf argues that sacrifice as a practice has been largely misunderstood by Christians and scholars and that a better understanding of ancient sacrificial practices will change how we understand New Testament interpretations of Jesus’ death. Contrary to traditional Christian theological interpretation, the interpretation of Jesus’ death as a sacrifice should not be considered a subcategory of the idea of atonement. Sacrifices had a variety of purposes in the ancient world, and atonement was only one of these. Different NT texts interpret Jesus’ death as different kinds of sacrifice, and each text must be evaluated in the context of the particular kind(s) of sacrifice drawn upon. The interpretations have in common that they serve to relate the death of Jesus to early Christians’ understanding of themselves, to what God had done in Jesus and to what God was doing in their midst. Shauf’s conclusions also address modern theological questions, such as the problem of the violence of the cross and whether Jesus’ death was necessary in a theological sense.