The Highest Altar: The Story of Human Sacrifice

This is one book that will hold you until the end. Whether you are fascinated with human sacrifice, with ancient cultures of South America, with mountain hiking or with little known clues to the Bible, you will find all of that in Patrick Tierney's book. The author gives a good historical background on the ancient Inca custom of taking children or young adults to the top of high mountains to sacrifice them to the gods. He then visits places in Chile and Peru where shamans allegedly practice human sacrifices even to this day. Tirelessly going from one shaman to another, to victim's families, police and anthropologists, he is able to put the pieces of the puzzle together, in a part that reads like a detective story. The last part deals with Western civilization's own involvement with human sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity. In fact, claims the author, most if not all religions hide the skeleton of human sacrifice in their closets. Human sacrifice used to be an important element of religious practice that was eliminated in reforms in Judaism only to be brought back to the forefront with the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. Although interesting, that part makes so many various interpretations, most often hastily that it is difficult to digest it all and to take seriously. I thought his interpretations and detective work in the first parts of the book made more sense because they were more carefully articulated. It is an out-of-print book but, knowing that human sacrifice is still going on in South America now well into the 21st century (look at the news), I think it is an important read, especially since so many books on the ancient Incas are mostly mute with regards to the extent of human sacrifice. This is, all in all, a very thought-provoking book and worth to seek as a second-hand copy.

This exploration of human sacrifice meanders a bit, but maintains interest throughout. Perhaps it should have been organized into three parts. Parts 1 and 2 are very anecdotal as author Patrick Tierney gives a first-person account of his adventures in the Andes as he investigated his subject. Part 1 is as much about mountain climbing as human sacrifice. He scaled various peaks to investigate mountain burial sites of Incan child sacrifices. In Part 2, he spends time in the company of modern-day shamans to uncover the truth behind present-day sacrifices, culminating in a lengthy interview with Maximo Coa, a man who is famed for committing many human sacrifices. Part 3 shifts gears completely. Referring to the patterns and motifs of human sacrifice and the mythology surrounding it, he makes a provocative and fascinating case that sacrifices were an integral part of early, developing Christianity and that sublimation of and guilt over this fact has resulted in hundreds of years of anti-Semitism.

There is no doubt that this is a extremely important book to all those who are interested in religion subject as well as worried with the violence wave of our time. The Highest Altar allows a new understanding of human violence and lead us to inquire about the deep reasons of murder. It is a very well written book that should not be absent from everyone library. It should not be out of print; a new edition is necessary. My congratulation to Patrick Tierney for such a marvelous work.