In the Global North, notion of “sacrifice” is highly controversial in contemporary discussion. recent years, influential work René Girard has succeeded putting sacrifice back on intellectual agenda, but his story primarily emphasised theme violence. Today, many theologians consider inherently problematic and some would like to do away with it altogether. Africa, however, popular across a wide r...

In response to changes in environmental conditions, animals and humans alike can initiate physiological regulatory mechanisms to assure survival. For example, when food is scarce, the body becomes “thrifty”, and conversely, when it is abundant, physiological “unthrifty” mechanisms are initiated. Recent work has uncovered novel cellular mechanisms of fuel sensing that contribute to these shifts ...

In club models of religion, sacrifices demanded by religious groups promote efficient production of club goods by screening out free riders. An alternative, complementary view is that religious clubs provide a means of sorting, matching individuals with similar characteristics. Sorting differs from screening in that it operates on traits that do not directly affect club goods production. This p...