Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume 11: Sacrifice - Sudra

The largest early section is devoted to Sacrifice, first examining general and primitive theories and then comparing Buddhist, Celtic, Greek, Iranian, Japanese, Jewish, Muslim, Semitic, and Teutonic traditions. It discusses offerings, animal and human sacrifice, substitution, communion, propitiation, fertility, funerary practices, food offerings, ritual purity, and competing anthropological theories concerning the origins and functions of sacrifice. The Buddhist section is especially noteworthy for contrasting the Buddhist rejection of sacrificial killing with merit-making, offerings, and ethical discipline.

Subsequent entries treat Sacrilege in Greek and Roman contexts; the Sadducees within Second Temple Judaism; Indian ascetic Sadhus; and Śaivism, including its theology, sectarian forms, ritual traditions, and philosophical development. Ethnographic articles on the Salish examine mythology, cosmology, spirits, ritual, social customs, and oral traditions. The substantial entry Saints and Martyrs surveys Buddhist, Chinese, Christian, Indian, Iranian, Japanese, Jewish, Muslim, Semitic-Egyptian, and Syrian traditions. Finally, Salvation compares Assyro-Babylonian, Buddhist, Christian, and other conceptions of deliverance, liberation, sin, redemption, and the ultimate religious goal.