Books about Leviticus are rare. If one were to be found, chances are it was written by a scholar, sitting in a study, surrounded by books and cats. No bulls. No lambs. Not a goat in sight. This book is different. This book is written by a butcher. And because it’s written by a butcher, it offers a unique insight into the sacrificial world of Leviticus. Having studied Leviticus, ancient sacrifice, and atonement for so long, Phil’s friends have taken to calling him a "Leviticus nerd.” Although Leviticus can be a tough book to chew through, the practical, hands-on experience of a butcher helps a lot. Leviticus on the Butcher's Block helps demystify Leviticus and make it accessible—maybe even fun! Readers should tie on their aprons, sharpen their knives, and get ready to experience Leviticus through the eyes of a butcher. "With both the hands-on insights and the practical humor of a professional butcher, Bray brings sacrifice to life, dissecting relevant paragraphs of the biblical narrative while scrutinizing nuances of its original Hebrew text. The result is an ingenious investigation of rituals and practices that once formed the core of Jewish temple worship for a millennium and later became an important source of metaphors for the Christian church." --Christian A. Eberhart, author of The Sacrifice of Jesus: Understanding Atonement Biblically "For centuries, theologians and pastors have gone on and on about the meaning of Old Testament sacrifices. Yet they were mostly ignorant of the practical realities of these rituals--realities in which the butchers of the world are immersed day after day. The rituals of sacrifice cannot be understood apart from the practicalities of slaughtering animals and handling meat and blood, since the meaning of any ritual is in the experience of it. Phil Bray has done us a great service by bridging this gap, giving us insight into how someone familiar with slaughter, meat, and blood (as were the priests and worshipers of the Bible) would have experienced and understood these rituals." --Jeremy Davis, author of Welcoming Gifts: Sacrifice in the Bible and Christian Life "This is a book to savor. Indeed, it may make you hungry for a rib-eye! But Bray's achievement is to make Leviticus, possibly the most baffling book in the Old Testament, appetizing. Leviticus on the Butcher's Block is that rare beast: well-researched, insightful, and a delight to read." --Michael P Jensen, author of Subjects and Citizens: The Politics of the Gospel "Too many Christians in industrialized societies read about sacrifice from a sanitized distance. Phil Bray combines his professional experience as a butcher with a deep love of scripture to draw a portrait of biblical sacrifice that practically leaps off the page. The result is accessible and vivid but also grounded in responsible scholarship. Readers who feel lost in the early chapters of Leviticus will find in this book a beautiful guide to the way God's love was expressed through these specific cultural practices." --Abby Kaplan, author of Misreading Ritual: Sacrifice and Purity for the Modern-Day Gentile "Using his experience as a butcher, Phil Bray has provided a much needed and approachable bridge between the ancient world of the Torah and that of the modern Christian. This book explains the biblical and cultural significance behind many key elements found in Leviticus's ritual texts and provides needed correctives to common assumptions along the way. If you are seeking a resource to quickly help you understand the often-confusing world of Leviticus, you will find this book a great help to your biblical studies and an enjoyable read." --Caleb S. Lewis, author of Through the Waters: A Biblical Theology of the Book of Genesis "I felt deeply engaged and a bit hungry as soon as I started reading Phil's work. Phil helped me read Leviticus by infusing the biblical text with the smells of herbs and barbeque, the sounds of sharpening knives and cutting meat, and the physical work of being a butcher. He's made a lasting impression on the way I read Leviticus! More importantly, Phil focuses on how God was not bloodthirsty, but was cleansing and restoring his people, and inviting them to look ahead to Christ's work of cleansing and restoring humanity on the deepest level." --Mako A. Nagasawa, author of Christmas with Irenaeus " Leviticus on the Butcher's Block offers an entryway into the Levitical sacrifices from the perspective of a real butcher. This guide for laypeop Phil Bray is a qualified butcher from Sydney Australia. He has a weird notion that Leviticus is fun, and when he's not writing about it, he's making short videos to confirm this claim at www.youtube.com/@Leviticus_is_fun.