Animals and Religion

<p>What do animals—other than human animals—have to do with religion? How do our religious ideas about animals affect the lives of real animals in the world? How can we deepen our understanding of both animals and religion by considering them together? <i>Animals and Religion</i> explores how animals have crucially shaped how we understand ourselves the other living beings around us and our relationships with them.</p><p>Through incisive analyses of religious examples from around the world the original contributions to this volume demonstrate how animals have played key roles in every known religious tradition whether as sacred beings symbols objects of concern fellow creatures or religious teachers. And through our religious imagination ethics and practices we have deeply impacted animal lives whether by domesticating sacrificing dominating eating refraining from eating blessing rescuing releasing commemorating or contemplating them. Drawing primarily on perspectives from religious studies and Christian theology augmented by cutting-edge work in anthropology biology philosophy and psychology <i>Animals and Religion</i> offers the reader a richer understanding of who animals are and who we humans are. Do animals have emotions? Do they think or use language? Are they persons? How we answer questions like these affects diverse aspects of religion that shape not only how we relate to other animals but also how we perceive and misperceive each other along axes of gender race and (dis)ability.</p><p>Accessibly written and thoughtfully argued <i>Animals and Religion</i> will interest anyone who wants to learn more about animals religion and what it means to be a human animal.</p>