It is a characteristic of contemporary ecumenical theology to refer to the ‘sacrifice of Christ’ without further elaboration. Doubtless the wholly understandable reason for this is the need to find a commonly agreed point of reference from which to tackle the hotly disputed question of the eucharistic sacrifice. All the major Christian traditions have affirmed that Christ's death is sacrificial in character; a typical ecumenical statement can accordingly be framed in the following terms:

But the truth of the matter is that in modern times there has been no agreement about the nature of sacrifice, and thus no agreement about the sense in which the interpretation of Christ's ‘sacrificial’ death is to be understood. The statements constitute, in effect, a consensus that this language should remain in circulation. But as a point of departure for further terminological qualification, for example in the phrase ‘sacrament of a sacrifice’, they are necessarily unstable.

The controversial and wide-ranging work of Rene Girard, much of which has been appearing during the period of the gestation of this book, will ensure the continued currency of sacrifice as a theological issue in the next decades. Although biblical study and theology have been in fruitful conversation for a century with social anthropology, there is some evidence that its revival will catch theology unprepared (McKenna 1985).