Theophagy
Theophagy (from the Greek θεός, deity and φαγεῖν, to consume) is a term from religious studies and describes the incorporation of a deity through the ingestion of food or drinks. A distinction is usually made between hierophagy (from the Greek ἱερός, holy), a mere sacred meal.
The Babylonian sacrificial cake represented the goddess Ištar and was probably consumed together. In the ancient Greek cult of Dionysus , not only wine was consumed, but also raw meat, the animals of which, goats or bulls, are celebrated with divine attributes. The mythical Pentheus became a human sacrifice, which was first torn and consumed by the Bacchantes . The god Dionysus was worshiped at the place of his death for centuries . In Islam and Judaism there is an obligation to slaughter , i.e. to let animals bleed during slaughter. Shedding is also originally prescribed for Christianity in Acts 15, 29 . These rules show that a special, transcendent meaning was assigned to the blood , which was considered pagan and which one therefore wanted to avoid. On the other hand, Thomas Aquinas pointed out the mysterious meaning of the sacrament of the Eucharist in his Summa theologica with the words Per Eucharistiam manducamus Christum .
A well-known example of the eating participation in God can be found today in the peyote religion among the Indians of North America. The cannibalism , ie the cannibalism is at least in Papua New Guinea have been observed up until the mid-20th century. Wherever it has ritual features, the boundaries to theophagy are at least fluid.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jan-Heiner Tück : Gift of the present: Theology and poetry of the Eucharist with Thomas Aquinas. Herder Verlag, 2016. ISBN 978-3-451-31199-4 . P. 432. Online partial view
literature
- F. Bammel: The holy meal in the faith of the peoples. A phenomenological study of religion, Gütersloh 1950
- Å. Hultkrantz: Conditions for the Spread of the in Peyote Cult North America, in: New Religions (ed. By H. Biezais ), Uppsala 1975, 70-83
- F. Lübker's Real Lexicon of Classical Antiquity (edited by J. Geffcken and E. Ziebarth) Leipzig, Berlin 1914
- Å. V. Ström: Questions of principles and basic concepts, in: The religions of the peoples (ed. By H. Ringgren and Å. V. Ström), Stuttgart 1959, pp. 1–32
- Ders .: Last Supper I, The Sacred Meal in the Religions of the World, in: TRE, Volume I, Berlin, New York 1977, pp. 43–47
- G. Widengren: Religionsphenomenologie , Berlin 1969
