A Communion of Subjects

by Waldau, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780231136426
• ISBN10: 0231136420
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-01-30
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

A Communion of Subjectsis the first comparative and interdisciplinary study of the conceptualization of animals in world religions. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including Thomas Berry (cultural history), Wendy Doniger (study of myth), Elizabeth Lawrence (veterinary medicine, ritual studies), Marc Bekoff (cognitive ethology), Marc Hauser (behavioral science), Steven Wise (animals and law), Peter Singer (animals and ethics), and Jane Goodall (primatology) consider how major religious traditions have incorporated animals into their belief systems, myths, rituals, and art. Their findings offer profound insights into humans' relationships with animals and a deeper understanding of the social and ecological web in which we all live.Contributors examine Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Daoism, Confucianism, African religions, traditions from ancient Egypt and early China, and Native American, indigenous Tibetan, and Australian Aboriginal traditions, among others. They explore issues such as animal consciousness, suffering, sacrifice, and stewardship in innovative methodological ways. They also address contemporary challenges relating to law, biotechnology, social justice, and the environment. By grappling with the nature and ideological features of various religious views, the contributors cast religious teachings and practices in a new light. They reveal how we either intentionally or inadvertently marginalize "others," whether they are human or otherwise, reflecting on the ways in which we assign value to living beings.Though it is an ancient concern, the topic of "Religion and Animals" has yet to be systematically studied by modern scholars. This groundbreaking collection takes the first steps toward a meaningful analysis.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgment	p. xiii
Essay Abstracts	p. xv
Heritage of the Volume	p. 1
Prologue: Loneliness and Presence	p. 5
Introduction	p. 11
Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics: In and Out of Time
"Caught with ourselves in the net of life and time": Traditional Views of Animals in Religion	p. 27
Seeing the Terrain We Walk: Features of the Contemporary Landscape of "Religion and Animals"	p. 40
Animals in Abrahamic Traditions
Judaism
Sacrifice in Ancient Israel: Pure Bodies, Domesticated Animals, and the Divine Shepherd	p. 65
Hope for the Animal Kingdom: A Jewish Vision	p. 81
Hierarchy, Kinship, and Responsibility: The Jewish Relationship to the Animal World	p. 91
Christianity
The Bestiary of Heretics: Imaging Medieval Christian Heresy with Insects and Animals	p. 103
Descartes, Christianity, and Contemporary Speciesism	p. 117
Practicing the Presence of God: A Christian Approach to Animals	p. 132
Islam
"This she-camel of God is a sign to you": Dimensions of Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Culture	p. 149
The Case of the Animals Versus Man: Towards an Ecology of Being	p. 160
"Oh that I could be a bird and fly, I would rush to the Beloved": Birds in Islamic Mystical Poetry	p. 170
Animals in Indian Traditions
Hinduism
Cows, Elephants, Dogs, and Other Lesser Embodiments of Atman: Reflections on Hindu Attitudes Toward Nonhuman Animals	p. 179
Strategies of Vedic Subversion: The Emergence of Vegetarianism in Post-Vedic India	p. 194
Buddhism
"A vast unsupervised recycling plant": Animals and the Buddhist Cosmos	p. 207
Snake-kings, Boars' Heads, Deer Parks, Monkey Talk: Animals as Transmitters and Transformers in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Narratives	p. 218
Jainism
Inherent Value without Nostalgia: Animals and the Jaina Tradition	p. 241
Five-Sensed Animals in Jainism	p. 250
Animals in Chinese Traditions
Early Chinese Religion
"Of a tawny bull we make offering": Animals in Early Chinese Religion	p. 259
Daoism
Daoism and Animals	p. 275
Confucianism
Of Animals and Humans: The Confucian Perspective	p. 293
East Meets West: Animals in Philosophy and Cultural History	p. 309
Human Exceptionalism Versus Cultural Elitism: (Or "Three in the morning, four at night")	p. 311
Humans and Animals: The History from a Religio-Ecological Perspective	p. 325
Animals in Myth
A Symbol in Search of an Object: The Mythology of Horses in India	p. 335
Animals in African Mythology	p. 351
"Why Umbulka Killed His Masters": Aboriginal Reconciliation and the Australian Wild Dog (Canis lupus dingo)	p. 360
Animals in Ritual
Knowing and Being Known by Animals: Indigenous Perspectives on Personhood	p. 373
Animal Sacrifice: Metaphysics of the Sublimated Victim	p. 391
Hunting the Wren: A Sacred Bird in Ritual	p. 406
Ridiculus Mus: Of Mice and Men in Roman Thought	p. 413
Raven Augury from Tibet to Alaska: Dialects, Divine Agency, and the Bird's-Eye View	p. 423
Animals in Art
On the Dynamis of Animals, or How Animalium Became Anthropos	p. 439
Animals as Subjects: Ethical Implications for Science
Wild Justice, Social Cognition, Fairness, and Morality: A Deep Appreciation for the Subjective Lives of Animals	p. 461
From Cognition to Consciousness	p. 481
Are Animals Moral Agents? Evolutionary Building Blocks of Morality	p. 505
Ethics, Biotechnology, and Animals	p. 519
Animal Experimentation	p. 533
Are Animals "for" Humans? The Issues of Factory Farming
Caring for Farm Animals: Pastoralist Ideals in an Industrialized World	p. 547
Agriculture, Livestock, and Biotechnology: Values, Profits, and Ethics	p. 556
Agribusiness: Farming Without Culture	p. 568
Contemporary Challenges: Law, Social Justice, and the Environment
Animals and the Law
Animal Law and Animal Sacrifice: Analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Santeria Animal Sacrifice in Hialeah	p. 585
Animals and Social Justice
"A very rare and difficult thing": Ecofeminism, Attention to Animal Suffering, and the Disappearance of the Subject	p. 591
Interlocking Oppressions: The Nature of Cruelty to Nonhuman Animals and its Relationship to Violence Toward Humans	p. 605
Animal Protection and the Problem of Religion	p. 616
Animals and Global Stewardship
Earth Charter Ethics and Animals	p. 621
Pushing Environmental Justice to a Natural Limit	p. 629
Conclusion: A Communion of Subjects and a Multiplicity of Intelligences	p. 645
Epilogue: The Dance of Awe	p. 651
List of Contributors	p. 657
Index	p. 667
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