In a message dated 1/10/01 2:22:14 PM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:
> I need to find
> imformation that may illuminate some of the history and psychology of the
> use
> of children as sacrifice. What I am looking for (finally - the point) is
> sources pertaining to (1) child martyrs, (2) accusations of ritual torture
> and murder of children leveled agains the early Chrisitians, and (3) any
> information on how medieval Jews viewed childhood and their children.
You might want to start with some of the many Old Testament allusions to
child sacrifice to Moloch (by throwing the children into a fire), as in the
following.
"When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou
shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall
not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass
through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an
enchanter, or a witch," (Deu 18:9-10)
The moral of the story of Abraham and Isaac might arguably be that the God of
the Hebrews doesn't demand sacrifice of one's child...though it's usually
interpreted more generally, as an assertion about the sacrifice of either
children or adults. I don't recall Biblical references to the sacrifice of
adults, though there are many references to child sacrifice similar to the
above.
pat sloane
For my books and papers on T. S. Eliot, see
http://hometown.aol.com/patsloane/myhomepageindex.html
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