Customer Reviews

The Highest Altar

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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.

The Highest Altar by Patrick Tierney is an amazing first hand account of human sacrifice why it was and is still being done in South America,and around the world all ancient cultures have their stories of a spilling human blood payment to the gods, all wars can be called human sacrifice as well it is an offering to our bloody alien gods....who have done a great job of hiding their existence, but deep research will bring them to the forefront of your consciousness, but many will fight this awareness today in church the pastor talked about the jewish blood sacrifices to god, he described how the perfect unblemished animal was cut up, (in human sacrifice the most perfect beautiful children were sacrificed by the Ancients ), I was stunned its the exact way that human victims are cut up....the pastor said that the blood is the life force that god demands from us, I say not "God" but fallen angels/demons or extraterristial beings who feed off human beings energetically and physically because they have cut them selves off from the Eternal Source. Why don't people get it any bloody sacrifice needed by a god is not the true God.

The Highest Altar is the most important book I've read this year the way he writes its like you are there with him on the adventure of a lifetime, he is a very courageous man who has given me the information that I have been seeking for a lifetime as I am Aztec and was horrified at their sacrifices, and couldn't find any information that answered my question which was WHY hurt other human beings, through my research now I know that they the people who did and do this are terrified of the "gods" who have demanded blood sacrifice for thousands if not millions of years using the upheavels of Nature to get people to murder for the good of all.

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.

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.

Nothing could have prepared me for the monstrosity I was about to read. This book starts out promisingly but quickly degenerates into the ramblings of a spoiled and inarticulate man. Tierney is repetitive and continuously strays from the topic of religion to that of his own experiences. These experiences are useless, unless the reader plans on scaling large mountains in Peru. Besides this I thought the book was generally awful. Explanations are given numerous times, the author is self-glorifying and useful information is always lacking.