Animals and World Religions

Animals and World Religions PDF

Author: Lisa Kemmerer

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2012-01-19

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 0199790671

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Despite increasing public attention to animal suffering, human beings continue to exploit billions of animals in factory farms medical laboratories, and elsewhere. This wide-ranging study shows how spiritual teachings in seven major religious traditions can help people consider their ethical obligations towards other creatures.

Animals and World Religions

Animals and World Religions PDF

Author: Lisa Kemmerer

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-01-05

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 019979068X

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Despite increasing public attention to animal suffering, human beings continue to exploit billions of animals in factory farms medical laboratories, and elsewhere. This wide-ranging study shows how spiritual teachings in seven major religious traditions can help people consider their ethical obligations towards other creatures.

Kinship and Killing

Kinship and Killing PDF

Author: Katherine Wills Perlo

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2009-03-11

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 0231519605

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Through close readings of Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and Buddhist texts, Katherine Wills Perlo proves that our relationship with animals shapes religious doctrine, particularly through the tension between animal exploitation and the bonds of kinship. She pinpoints four different strategies for coping with this conflict. The first is aggression, in which a divinely conferred superiority or karma justifies animal usage. The second is evasion, which emphasizes benevolent aspects of the human-animal relationship within the exploitative structure, such as the image of Jesus as a "good shepherd." The third is defense, which acknowledges the problematic nature of killing, leading many religions to adopt a propitiation mechanism, such as apologizing for sacrifice. And the fourth is effective-defensive, which recognizes animal abuse as inherently unethical. As humans feel more empathy toward animals, Perlo finds that adherents revise their interpretations of religious texts. Preexisting ontologies, such as Christianity's changing God or Buddhism's principle of impermanence, along with advances in farming practices and technology, also encourage changes in treatment. As cultures begin to appreciate the different types of perception and consciousness experienced by nonhumans, definitions of reality become complicated and humans lean more toward unitary accounts of shared existence. These evolving attitudes exert a crucial influence on religious thought, Perlo argues, moving humans ever closer to a nonspeciesist world.

A Communion of Subjects

A Communion of Subjects PDF

Author: Paul Waldau

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2009-05-22

Total Pages: 721

ISBN-13: 0231136439

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A Communion of Subjects is 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 the relationship between human beings and animals, and a deeper understanding of the social and ecological web in which we all live.

Kinship and Killing

Kinship and Killing PDF

Author: Katherine Wills Perlo

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 0231146221

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Through close readings of Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and Buddhist texts, Katherine Wills Perlo proves that our relationship with animals shapes religious doctrine, particularly through the tension between animal exploitation and the bonds of kinship. She pinpoints four different strategies for coping with this conflict. The first is aggression, in which a divinely conferred superiority or karma justifies animal usage. The second is evasion, which emphasizes benevolent aspects of the human-animal relationship within the exploitative structure, such as the image of Jesus as a "good shepherd." The third is defense, which acknowledges the problematic nature of killing, leading many religions to adopt a propitiation mechanism, such as apologizing for sacrifice. And the fourth is effective-defensive, which recognizes animal abuse as inherently unethical. As humans feel more empathy toward animals, Perlo finds that adherents revise their interpretations of religious texts. Preexisting ontologies, such as Christianity's changing God or Buddhism's principle of impermanence, along with advances in farming practices and technology, also encourage changes in treatment. As cultures begin to appreciate the different types of perception and consciousness experienced by nonhumans, definitions of reality become complicated and humans lean more toward unitary accounts of shared existence. These evolving attitudes exert a crucial influence on religious thought, Perlo argues, moving humans ever closer to a nonspeciesist world.

The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics

The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics PDF

Author: Andrew Linzey

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-09-29

Total Pages: 505

ISBN-13: 0429953119

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The ethical treatment of non-human animals is an increasingly significant issue, directly affecting how people share the planet with other creatures and visualize themselves within the natural world. The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics is a key reference source in this area, looking specifically at the role religion plays in the formation of ethics around these concerns. Featuring thirty-five chapters by a team of international contributors, the handbook is divided into two parts. The first gives an overview of fifteen of the major world religions’ attitudes towards animal ethics and protection. The second features five sections addressing the following topics: Human Interaction with Animals Killing and Exploitation Religious and Secular Law Evil and Theodicy Souls and Afterlife This handbook demonstrates that religious traditions, despite often being anthropocentric, do have much to offer to those seeking a framework for a more enlightened relationship between humans and non-human animals. As such, The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies, theology, and animal ethics as well as those studying the philosophy of religion and ethics more generally.

Understanding World Religions

Understanding World Religions PDF

Author: Irving Hexham

Publisher: Zondervan Academic

Published: 2011-03-22

Total Pages: 513

ISBN-13: 0310314488

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Globalization and high-speed communication put twenty-first century people in contact with adherents to a wide variety of world religions, but usually, valuable knowledge of these other traditions is limited at best. On the one hand, religious stereotypes abound, hampering a serious exploration of unfamiliar philosophies and practices. On the other hand, the popular idea that all religions lead to the same God or the same moral life fails to account for the distinctive origins and radically different teachings found across the world’s many religions. Understanding World Religions presents religion as a complex and intriguing matrix of history, philosophy, culture, beliefs, and practices. Hexham believes that a certain degree of objectivity and critique is inherent in the study of religion, and he guides readers in responsible ways of carrying this out. Of particular importance is Hexham’s decision to explore African religions, which have frequently been absent from major religion texts. He surveys these in addition to varieties of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

National Geographic Concise History of World Religions

National Geographic Concise History of World Religions PDF

Author: Tim A. Cooke

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 1426206984

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Presented in a time line format, the book offers a survey of world religions. It examines global perspectives on the history of faith in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania, Africa and the Middle East.

The Popular Handbook of World Religions

The Popular Handbook of World Religions PDF

Author: Daniel J McCoy

Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

Published: 2021-03-23

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 0736979107

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A Christian’s Guide to the World’s Most Prominent Religions Meeting people from other religions is an incredible blessing and a unique challenge. As Christians, what do we need to know about their beliefs to effectively interact with them? And how can we share about Jesus with sensitivity for someone’s relationship to their current faith? A compilation from some of today’s top religion scholars, The Popular Handbook of World Religions is a clear and insightful guide to understanding and conversing with followers of the world’s major belief systems. You will… gain a balanced, nuanced comprehension of what followers of other religions believe, and see how those beliefs compare with those of Christianity develop deeper respect for different cultures and appreciate their unique traditions and ideas learn how to share about Christ with true compassion and a recognition of other people’s individuality and heritage Featuring the writings of Dr. Douglas Groothuis, Dr. Paul Copan, Dr. Winfried Corduan, and more, The Popular Handbook of World Religions is designed to help you gain the wisdom you need to interact with people of other faiths, from atheism to Judaism, Buddhism to Islam, Jainism to Sikhism, and more.