Is There a Future for Sacrifice?
From the Forum Magazine, Spring 2016 - view the full issue here
“The topic of sacrifice is urgently in need of theological and philosophical reclamation … if we are to confront some of the deepest challenges that currently threaten human flourishing worldwide,” said theologian Sarah Coakley, establishing the stakes for her Stob Lectures, delivered at Calvin Seminary in November.
Coakley’s work is known for its interdisciplinary approach, and she has published on topics as diverse as Gregory of Nyssa, feminist theology, and evolutionary biology. Her Stob lectures displayed the same breadth of expertise, drawing from Calvin, Kant, Derrida, René Girard, and a slate of feminist theologians.
In her first lecture, “Modernity Against Sacrifice: From Kant via Girard to Contemporary Feminism,” Coakley examined modern objections to sacrifice. After the horrors of the Holocaust, there has been increasing resistance to the concept of sacrifice as a “rational or transformational spiritual project,” Coakley said. She then examined two of the most important contemporary critiques of sacrifice: the claim rising out of French thinker René Girard’s work that sacrifice is mere violence, and the claim of many feminist theologians that sacrifice is a patriarchal concept used to justify the victimization of women.
In her second lecture, “Retrieving Sacrifice: Why a Classic Christian (and Reformed) Theme Refuses to Die,” Coakley maintained that sacrifice, though it may at times be used abusively, nevertheless has the potential to be life-giving. She then sketched the foundation for “a vibrant theology of sacrifice” that would still be “truly cognizant” of the dangers highlighted by its critics.
Drawing from Calvin’s Institutes— a source she acknowledged as particularly fitting given the location of her lectures—Coakley responded to the two critiques laid out in her first lecture. Abusive actions can never be justified by Christ’s expiatory sacrifice, Coakley contended, since this act is unrepeatable and no further punishment is needed.
However, while Christians cannot offer or demand sacrifices of expiation, they are called to make sacrifices of praise and thanks, especially through the Eucharist. Though impossible without Christ’s expiatory sacrifice, the Eucharist redirects sacrifice away from violence and toward the feeding of the body. This becomes a model for “ecstatic forms of moral response”—acts of love that humans could not do without the divine graces of justification and sanctification.
Coakley concluded her lecture by returning to the question of whether sacrifice has a future. Drawing from her research into the theological implications of the evolutionary concept of cooperation, she explained how sacrifice is becoming a foundational concept for evolutionary biology. “Selfishness is not the only story in evolution,” she said, noting that surrendering an individual fitness trait for the sake of the whole species can lead to stability and productivity. Coakley concluded, “This nexus of themes on evolutionary cooperation and productive sacrifice is one without which final ecological survival cannot now even be plotted or imagined.”
With the survival of creation at stake, the Christian has a special call beyond evolutionary processes. “Prayerful and costly entry into the Eucharistic sacrifice,” Coakley concluded, “should issue forth in responsive and prophetic action to protect the planet and protect others.”
(written by Erin Zoutendam, alumna)
