Exploring the Human and Animal Relationship in the Hebrew Bible Through the Blood Prohibition
This paper argues that the primary purpose of the blood prohibition in the Hebrew Bible is not to reflect ethical sensitivity toward animals; rather, it is part of an anthropocentric ideology that promotes both human ascendancy over, and kinship with, animals. The blood prohibition places a high val...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2022
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| In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 90, Issue: 1, Pages: 150-175 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Genesis
/ Leviticus
/ Blood
/ Animal sacrifice
/ Kashrut
/ Human being
/ Animals
/ Kinship
/ Anthropocentrism
/ Protection of animals ethics
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| IxTheo Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BH Judaism HB Old Testament NBE Anthropology NCG Environmental ethics; Creation ethics |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This paper argues that the primary purpose of the blood prohibition in the Hebrew Bible is not to reflect ethical sensitivity toward animals; rather, it is part of an anthropocentric ideology that promotes both human ascendancy over, and kinship with, animals. The blood prohibition places a high value on animal life, but it does this to justify, and socially authorize, the eating of animals while simultaneously alleviating the deeply embedded human guilt over killing them. To display this, I contrast how animals and blood function in the Priestly texts of the Hebrew Bible versus the non-Priestly texts—focusing on the primeval history of Genesis and the book of Leviticus. Most tellingly, the non-Priestly material in the primeval history contains no blood prohibition and thus does not contain the profound ambivalence toward animals and eating them that the Priestly material does. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfac001 |