Animals, Empathy, and Ra?amim in the Study of Religion: A Case Study of Jewish Opposition to Hunting
Both classical and contemporary Jewish texts, surveyed here, articulate a religious opposition to hunting for sport. This essay interprets compassion-based rabbinic opposition to hunting as reflecting a pragmatic concern with cultivating a regard and even a reverence for the capacities of empathy an...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage
[2017]
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In: |
Studies in religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 46, Issue: 4, Pages: 511-535 |
Further subjects: | B
pitié
B Hunting B Sympathy B Empathy B Empathie B ritualchasse B Rituel B Animal B Judaism B Compassion B souffrance B Suffering B Judaïsme |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
Summary: | Both classical and contemporary Jewish texts, surveyed here, articulate a religious opposition to hunting for sport. This essay interprets compassion-based rabbinic opposition to hunting as reflecting a pragmatic concern with cultivating a regard and even a reverence for the capacities of empathy and sympathy. In particular, this redescription will analyze the rabbinic opposition to hunting in terms of more basic building blocks of religion, specifically empathy and sympathy as defined by the life sciences. I conclude that the most complete way to understand compassion-based rabbinic opposition to hunting is as, simultaneously, a society-forming performance, a symbolic statement about human attitudes towards life, andthe focus of the present essaya vehicle for responding to the building block capacities for empathy and sympathy. A concluding section considers the implications of this case study for religious studies, arguing for the value of considering animals as participants in religious ritual. |
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ISSN: | 2042-0587 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0008429817732031 |