Foreword Part I: Introduction, Methodological and Hermeneutical Issues Preliminary Notes The History of Religions Postmodern Approaches The Elites in Antiquity and Christianity What Is Sacrifice? The Sacrificial World Confronting Ancient Christianity Sacrifice in Human History The Unity of the Ancient World of Sacrifice The "End" of Paganism? Part II: The Greco-Roman Trajectory From Homer and Hesiod up to Heraclitus and Plato Anaximenes Theophrastus Philo of Alexandria Apollonius of Tyana Heliodorus of Emesa Plutarch Lucian Porphyry Iamblichus Sallust Symmachus Macrobius and the "End" of Paganism Part III: The Jewish-Christian Trajectory Preliminary Note: The Many Meanings of Sacrifice Transitional Note The Hebrew Scriptures Excursus 1: "Leave your gift there before the altar" (Matthew 5:24) Excursus 2: Spiritualization The Christian Scriptures (New Testament) Early Christianity Preliminary Note: the General Situation Excursus 3: A Trinitarian View of Sacrifice Excursus 4: The Eucharist as Sacrifice Part IV: Select Points of Comparison and Contrast Prayer and Sacrifice Divination and Sacrifice Ethics, Morality, and Sacrifice The Purpose of Sacrifice The Rhetoric of Sacrifice The "Economics" of Sacrifice Heroes and Saints Part V: Concluding Summary and Looking Ahead Index of Names Subject Index.