The Concept of Sacrifice form the Viewpoint of E. B. Tylor, H. Spencer and J. G. Frazer

Sacrifice, as one of the most important religious rituals, is widespread among different nations and cultures of the world. This rite which has been the subject of scholarly research for a long time involves various aspects and a variety of subjects, objects and methods. During the last two centuries scholars have dealt with this issue through different approaches such as sociological, psychological, mythological and phenomenological and thus have put forward various theories. The present article tries to give a brief survey of the theories of three scholars, namely Edward Burnett Tylor, Herbert Spencer and James G. Frazer, concerning the origin, object and meaning of the sacrifice.