This book offers a new understanding of sacrifice as a response to love and an entering into the self-giving life of God.Most ideas of sacrifice, even specifically Christian ideas, as we saw in the Reformation controversies, have something to do with deprivation or destruction. But this is not authentic Christian sacrifice. Authentic Christian sacrifice, and ultimately all true sacrifice (whether one is conscious of it or not) begins with the self-offering of the Father in the gift-sending of the Son, continues with the loving "response" of the Son, in his humanity, and in the Spirit, to the Father and for us, and finally, begins to become real in our world when human beings, in the power of the same Spirit that was in Jesus, respond to love with love, and thus begin to enter into that perfectly loving, totally self-giving relationship that is the life of the triune God.The origins of this are in the Hebrew Bible, its revelatory high-points in Jesus and Paul, and its working out in the life of the Church, especially its "Eucharistic Prayers". Special attention will be paid to the atonement, not just because atonement and sacrifice are often synonymous, but also because traditional atonement theology is the source of distortions that continue to plague Christian thinking about sacrifice.After exploring the possibility of finding a phenomenology of sacrificial atonement in Girardian mimetic theory, the book will end with some suggestions on how to communicate its findings to people likely to be put off from the outset by the negative connotations associated with 'sacrifice'.

The group of European Medical Research Councils (EMRC) was formed in 1971 and became a Standing Committee of the European Science Foundation (ESF) in 1975. EMRC is an association of medical research councils or equivalent organizations in Western Europe. The National Institutes of Health, the Israel Academy of Sciences and the European Office of WHO are associated with EMRC and take an active part in EMRC activities. The main aims of EMRC are to exchange information on the research policies pursued by its member organizations and to initiate and stimulate international cooperation in biomedical research. Since biomedical research is highly international in itself, EMRC concentrates its activities on furthering international collaboration in those fields where it can play a significant role as a complement to existing channels. Mental illness research has been judged by EMRC to fulfill these criteria. After a survey of the activities of the member organizations in mental illness research, EMRC decided in 1978 to set up a study group to look for areas within this field to which EMRC could contribute. As a result of the work of the study group, four work shops have been arranged to define present knowledge in some specific areas and to delineate research needs. The present volume contains the proceedings of the fourth workshop, held in 1985 and dealing with the course and outcome of depressive illness. EMRC hopes that this volume will stimulate intensified research and research cooperation on mental illnesses."

The group of European Medical Research Councils (EMRC) was formed in 1971 by the medical research councils or equivalent organizations in Western Europe and became a Standing Committee of the European Science Foundation in 1975. The aims of the EMRC are to exchange information on research policies and to initiate and stimulate international cooperation in biomedical research. Research on mental illness is one of the areas of special im portance identified by the EMRC. Having surveyed the activities of its member organizations in mental illness research the EMRC decided in 1978 to set up a study group in order to promote European collaboration on research needed in this field. It was decided that emphasis should be on research on treatment and on the evaluation of treatment. The group prepared a proposal to the EMRC which suggested organizing small workshops with the participation of two or three research workers from each member country as well as from organizations with observer status in the EMRC such as they WHO and the National Institutes of Health in the United States. The members of the Study Group nominated by the EMRC are at present Professors E. Anttinen (Finland), R. Daly (Ireland), T. Helgason (Iceland; chairman), H. Hippius (Federal Republic of Germany), and E. A. Sand (Belgium), and Dr. R. Sadoun (France)."

Robert J. Daly S.J. examines the concept of sacrifice in the ancient Mediterranean world, and discusses how the rise of bloodless Christian sacrifice, and the use of sacrificial language in reference to highly spiritualized Christian lives, would have seemed unsettling and radically challenging to the pagan mind. Acknowledging the difficulties posed by an overwhelmingly Christian scholarly narrative around the topic of sacrifice, Daly specifically sets out to tell the non-Christian side of this story. He first outlines the pagan trajectory, and then the Jewish-Christian trajectory, before concluding with a representative series of comparisons and contrasts. Covering the concept of sacrifice in relation to prayer, ethics and morality, the rhetoric and economics of sacrificial ceremonies, and heroes and saints, Daly finishes with an estimation of how this study might inform further study of sacrifice.

Originally published in German in 1938, this highly acclaimed volume presents more than one thousand selections from the various extant writings of Origen, the great Alexandrian theologian. Robert J. Daly, S.J., has re-translated the majority of these texts from the original Greek and Latin, added the scriptural references in the translated texts and an index, and included updated bibliographical information. This volume comprises thoughts of one of the greatest of ancient theologians as seen through the eyes of an almost equally prolific successor in the same central Christian enterprise. The book remains a great resource for anyone interested in patristic theology, early Christian mysticism, and early interpretation of Scripture. This Cornerstones edition has a new introduction written by Robert J. Daly, S.J.

Robert J. Daly S.J. examines the concept of sacrifice in the ancient Mediterranean world, and discusses how the rise of bloodless Christian sacrifice, and the use of sacrificial language in reference to highly spiritualized Christian lives, would have seemed unsettling and radically challenging to the pagan mind. Acknowledging the difficulties posed by an overwhelmingly Christian scholarly narrative around the topic of sacrifice, Daly specifically sets out to tell the non-Christian side of this story. He first outlines the pagan trajectory, and then the Jewish-Christian trajectory, before concluding with a representative series of comparisons and contrasts. Covering the concept of sacrifice in relation to prayer, ethics and morality, the rhetoric and economics of sacrificial ceremonies, and heroes and saints, Daly finishes with an estimation of how this study might inform further study of sacrifice.

Most ideas of sacrifice, even specifically Christian ideas, as we saw in the Reformation controversies, have something to do with deprivation or destruction. But this is not authentic Christian sacrifice. Authentic Christian sacrifice, and ultimately all true sacrifice (whether one is conscious of it or not) begins with the self-offering of the Father in the gift-sending of the Son, continues with the loving "response" of the Son, in his humanity, and in the Spirit, to the Father and for us, and finally, begins to become real in our world when human beings, in the power of the same Spirit that was in Jesus, respond to love with love, and thus begin to enter into that perfectly loving, totally self-giving relationship that is the life of the triune God. The origins of this are in the Hebrew Bible, its revelatory high-points in Jesus and Paul, and its working out in the life of the Church, especially its Eucharistic Prayers. Special attention will be paid to the atonement, not just because atonement and sacrifice are often synonymous, but also because traditional atonement theology is the source of distortions that continue to plague Christian thinking about sacrifice. After exploring the possibility of finding a phenomenology of sacrificial atonement in Girardian mimetic theory, the book will end with some suggestions on how to communicate its findings to people likely to be put off from the outset by the negative connotations associated with "sacrifice."

By applying Rene Girard's scapegoat theory to biblical texts, Schwager offers a revolutionary paradigm of biblical theory.

In the light of its own history, the Catholic theology of the Eucharist, as it is generally understood today, is revealed as a splinter tradition whose deficiencies call for fundamental reformulation. The valid aspects of that theology (for example, the recovery of the role of the Holy Spirit in the new Roman Eucharistic Prayers) must be identified and integrated with the faith and practice of the first theological millennium when the lex orandi was not so dominated by the lex credendi. In the third theological millennium, more attention to the content and structure of the classical Eucharistic Prayers of both East and West will result in a Catholic systematic theology of eucharistic sacrifice that is not only truer to its biblical and patristic foundations but also -- of ecumenical import -- closer to some of the theological insights of the Protestant Reformers.

These highlights of The Eucharist in the West illustrate the great value of this posthumous work. Conceptually complete, but in only rough draft form at the time of Kilmartin's death, it has been edited and prepared for publication by Robert J. Daly, S.J.

Chapter one describes the characteristics of the eucharistic theology of the Western Latin Fathers. Chapter two identifies the more important orientations and developments of the Catholic tradition from early medieval Scholasticism up to the first part of the twelfth century. Chapter three singles out the special contribution of early Scholasticism to Latin eucharistic theology Chapter four functions as a bridge from early Scholasticism to high Scholasticism by outlining the general approach to a synthetic theology of the Eucharist which was obtained at the beginning ofthe thirteenth century. Chapter five treats eucharistic theology from high Scholasticism to the Council of Trent. Chapter six summarizes the dogmatic teaching of the Council of Trent. This is followed in Chapter seven, by a treatment of salient features of post-Tridentine eucharistic theology. Chapter eight includes an analysis of the practice and theology of Mass stipends. Chapter nine includes a detailed analysis of Aquinas's theology of the eucharistic sacrifice. Chapter ten offers an account of some recent contributions to the formulation of a theology of the eucharistic sacrifice which have contributed to the modern average Roman Catholic synthesis.

Chapters are "Eucharistic Sacrifice: The Western Patristic Tradition", "Eucharistic Theology in the West: Early Middle Ages", "Early Scholastic Contribution to Eucharistic Theology" "From Early to High Scholastic Theology of the Eucharist: The Priest Presiding at the Eucharistic Liturgy", "Eucharistic Theology: High Scholasticism to the Council of Trent", "The Eucharistic Doctrine of the Council of Trent", "From the Council of Trent to Modern Times", "The Practice and Theology of the Mass Stipend", "Eucharistic Sacrifice According to St. Thomas Aquinas", "Twentieth-Century Contribution to the Theology of Eucharistic Sacrifice", and "A Systematic Theology of Eucharistic Sacrifice".

Originally published in German in 1938, this highly acclaimed volume presents more than one thousand selections from the various extant writings of Origen, the great Alexandrian theologian. Robert J. Daly has retranslated the majority of these texts from the original Greek and Latin, added the scriptural references in the translated texts and an index, and included updated bibliographical information. "This collection has been extremely well translated into English by Fr. Daly and to him a great debt of gratitude is due for having made available the thoughts of one of the greatest of ancient theologians as seen through the eyes of an almost equally prolific successor in the same central Christian enterprise." - Heythrop Journal