Historical Studies Book Talk with Jonathan Sheehan
On the Altar: A History of Sacrifice from the Sacred to the Secular
Wednesday, April 15, 2026 
5:00 p.m. | Reception
5:30 p.m. | Talk
Rubenstein Commons Café

In On the Altar, Jonathan Sheehan offers a new account of sacrifice both sacred and secular. His story is in part a history of the Christian imagination across the centuries of the Reformation, when new martyrs and holy warriors fought for the truth of their sacrifices, when the empire of New World sacrifice was recruited to settle Christian conflicts, and when the sacrifices of the ancient Hebrews were weaponized for orthodoxy. But it is a history of the secular imagination as well, as the vast archive of Christian sacrifice was dispersed and applied to things that humans make, their religions, politics, and societies. With On the Altar, Sheehan reveals a new history of both Christianity and the secular world in which we still live.

Jonathan Sheehan is Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of European History at the University of California, Berkeley. He writes on the intellectual and cultural history of early modern Europe, with particular focus on Christianity and the making of the secular world. 

Sheehan was a Member of the Institute in the School of Historical Studies throughout the 2020-21 academic year during which time he wrote On the Altar.

Sheehan will be available for a book signing following the talk. Labyrinth Books will be on site to offer the sale of On the Altar.