# On the Altar: A conversation with historian Jonathan Sheehan

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-commonweal-podcast-1149321/on-the-altar-a-conversation-with-historian-jonathan-sheehan
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-commonweal-podcast-1149321/on-the-altar-a-conversation-with-historian-jonathan-sheehan.md
Podcast: [The Commonweal Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-commonweal-podcast-1149321)
Published: 2026-03-06T04:08:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SM8031857757.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SM8031857757.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-commonweal-podcast-1149321/episodes/on-the-altar-a-conversation-with-historian-jonathan-sheehan
Duration seconds: 2553

## Resource

Hosts and Commonweal contributors Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins and Nick Tabor chat with Jonathan Sheehan, professor of European history at UC Berkeley, about his new book, On the Altar: A History of Sacrifice from the Sacred to the Secular (Princeton University Press). Together, they explore the long, contested history of Christian sacrifice, from the early church and the cult of the martyrs through the Reformation and into the secular modern world—and discuss what the language of sacrifice still offers us today. Episode production and original music by Joel Myers.

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## Transcript

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