Abstract

SUMMARYI have identified and briefly analyzed three examples of sacrificial logic in the intersection of politics and religion. My analysis, which is based on the texts of Girard, Kierkegaard, and Levinas, concerns the heroic self-sacrifice of soldiers, the religiously motivated sacrifice of the suicide bombers, and the everyday sacrifice of the unborn in the silent rites of the clinic – all three characterized by cultural unease and ambivalence.These examples may indicate why the European Society for Philosophy of Religion had chosen “Sacrifice” as topic for its conference in Oslo in August 2008: the questions have profound significance and wide bearing, thus opening up the field of philosophical discourse far beyond the traditional perspectives of Jewish-Christian thought