Human sacrifice

2016-04-05

Sorry, but try to understand human sacrifice is necessary to maintain social class order

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

by Neil Godfrey

Elaborate ritual killings such as being crushed under a newly built canoe and decapitation after being rolled off a house laid the foundations of class-based structures in modern societies, a new study of Austronesian cultures suggests. — http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-05/human-sacrifice-may-have-helped-build-social-class-structures/7297460

The source article is Ritual Human Sacrifice Promoted and Sustained the Evolution of Stratified Societies in Nature magazine. I see from its first paragraph that it uses our old favourite, Bayesian analysis.

James Cook witnessing human sacrifice in Tahiti c. 1773 -- Wikipedia — James Cook witnessing human sacrifice in Tahiti c. 1773 — Wikipedia

Egalitarian societies are a good thing.

Don’t we see even in class societies that no longer practice human sacrifice the upper classes expending the blood of the lower classes in other ways — all buttressed by noble and praiseworthy ideologies, of course.

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Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “Good point, and a “gnosticism” first thesis also makes a lot more sense of the nature of Christ/Jesus in its…” Feb 22, 22:25
Gordon Rouse on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “I think an argument for the ‘gnostic’ Christ coming first would be that the ‘gnostic’ Christ story actually makes sense.…” Feb 22, 21:45
RParvus on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “First, note that there is a textual problem that has been noticed by many. In Acts 19:14 it says seven…” Feb 22, 19:37
Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “I think you’ve let the horses run a little wild here 😉 — but yeh, some ideas can lead to…” Feb 21, 23:15
Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity — An Objection; and the Role of Asceticism: “But as for that point about oral tradition being unjustified — I do recall Thomas Brodie calling it out in…” Feb 21, 03:09
Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity — An Objection; and the Role of Asceticism: “Yes, I did read it and should refresh my memory of it by returning to my marked digital copy. I…” Feb 21, 02:52
Clarke W Owens on A Beginning of Christianity — An Objection; and the Role of Asceticism: “Robyn Faith Walsh, in The Origins of Early Christian Literature, argues that reliance on oral traditions and early communities is…” Feb 21, 02:28
RParvus on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “Neil, I know I’ve been rightly accused of excess speculation, but sometimes I can’t help myself. I will blurt this…” Feb 20, 23:26
Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “I don’t know that Justin was using a harmony of the gospels. He flat out contradicts the Gospels and Acts…” Feb 20, 21:23

Tag: Human sacrifice

2016-04-05

Sorry, but try to understand human sacrifice is necessary to maintain social class order

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

by Neil Godfrey

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