During his long career Robert Daly has written extensively on the subject of sacrifice in the ancient Christian world, and the primary strength of this latest volume is to provide a digest of recent studies on the subject, and especially of pagan concepts of sacrifice that will be unfamiliar to most readers. He also draws a helpful distinction between elite and non-elite adherents of both pagan and Christian religions that is not usually made. This is an enormously valuable work.

Paul Bradshaw, Emeritus Professor of Liturgy, University of Notre Dame, USA

A tour de force. This is the crowning achievement of a distinguished scholar's life's work on the subject of sacrifice. Expanding his hitherto magisterial work on the Christian understanding of sacrifice and its consequences for worship, Robert Daly helps us to understand the complexity of the idea of sacrifice in the ancient western world as a whole. Meanwhile he introduces the reader to the wide range of contemporary scholarship on the subject. No serious student of sacrifice can afford to ignore this book.

John F. Baldovin, S. J. Boston College School of Theology & Ministry, USA