Christian vegetarianism

Christian vegetarianism is a minority Christian belief based on effecting the compassionate teachings of Jesus, the twelve apostles and the early church to all living beings through vegetarianism or, ideally, veganism. Alternatively, Christians may be vegetarian for ethical, environmental, nutritional or other spiritual reasons.^[1][2]

Origins

Old Testament

While vegetarianism is not a common practice in current western Christian thought and culture, the concept and practice has scriptural and historical support. According to the Bible, in the beginning, before the Fall, human and nonhuman animals, which are beings that have or are an ānima, Latin for soul,^[3][4] were completely vegetarian, and "it was very good".^{[Genesis 1:29-31]} According to some interpretations of the Bible, raw veganism was the original diet of humankind in the form given to Adam and Eve by God in Genesis 1:29, "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat" (see Edenic diet).

Immediately after the Flood, God allegedly permitted the eating of meat,^{[Genesis 9:3]} but forbade consuming "blood, which is life".^{[Genesis 9:4]} However, some maintain that God permitted the consumption of meat only temporarily because all plants had been destroyed as a result of the flood,^[5] despite the lack of any reference to this in Genesis itself. Christian vegetarians interpret that passage not as a free pass to kill for eating if the blood is supposedly excluded from alimentation,^[6] but as an invitation (rhetoric or not) to necrophagy.^{[citation needed]} "The biological fact is: no matter what you do you can never remove all the blood from the flesh of a slaughtered animal."^[7][8]

One of the Ten Commandments says categorically, "Thou shalt not kill" — without specifying that some animals are allowed to be killed. Isaiah states "He that killeth an ox [is as if] he slew a man."^{[Isaiah 66:3]} However, specific sacrifices of animals for the atonement of sin are also mandated, by Moses, what may be inconsistent with the principle of grace: one cannot force someone to forgive. When the Moabite king Mesha offered in a holocaust "his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead" in order that his army were spared at a war against Israel, the Israelites felt so outraged, that they decided to stop the battle "and returned to their own land".^{[2Kings 3:27]} (See Speciesism.)

Centuries after Noah, Leviticus 11 records God giving the Israelites rules about what types of meat may be eaten, suggesting that certain meats were acceptable. The Old Testament says that God commanded the Israelites to eat meat on some occasions. During the Exodus out of Egypt and the first Passover, God commanded the all of the Israelites to slaughter a Passover lamb and eat it. This was to be a lasting tradition.^{[Exodus 12:24]} The sacrifices (including the Paschal Lamb), however, are considered as types of the Lamb of God, an innocent victim, tortured and murdered.

The Israelites tired of manna, a food of which "The Rabbis of the Talmud held that […] had whatever taste and flavor the eater desired at the time of eating"^[9] and which probably was not an animal product^[4] and was offered to them by God during The Exodus.^{[Numbers 11:4-10]} They preferred meat, and were condemned for it.^{[Numbers 11:32-34]} Because of that lust, the place where the incident happened became known as Kibroth Hattaavah.^[9]

A donkey believed to have spoken showed Ballaam more than signs of sentience.^{[Numbers 22:21-33]}

Some Christians believe that the Bible explains that, in the future, human and nonhuman animals will return to veganism, regarded by animal abolitionists as the moral baseline of animal rights:^[10]

[…] The cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. […] They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

— Isaiah 11:6-9

Some people believe that the Book of Daniel also specifically promotes vegetarianism as beneficial. Daniel specifically refuses the king's "meat" (paṯbaḡ, Strong's #5698^[11]) and instead requests vegetables (zērōʿîm, Strong's #2235^[12]).^{[Daniel 1:8–16]} However, current common theology argues that in this instance Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah are rejecting food that is considered to be unholy by their faith (eating food that had been sacrificed to pagan gods), and not meat per se, despite that "at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat".^{[Daniel 1:15]}

Philo says that the Essenes, “being more scrupulous than any in the worship of God […] do not sacrifice animals […], but hold it right to dedicate their own hearts as a worthy offering”. They maintained that the sacrifices "polluted" the Temple.^[13]

New Testament

There is a special interest on Jesus of Nazareth in the matter of animals rights and the Bible, that is thought to be divinely inspired and, supposedly therefore, necessarily consistent. Critics of the supposed Biblical inerrancy may use verses like Proverbs 4:7 or Proverbs 9:9 in order to support what they understand as impartiality. (See Biblical criticism.) Jesus is regarded in Christianity to be the "Son of God" and-or the "Theanthropos", the incarnation of God. The Gospels offer that Jesus gave fish to others.^{[Matthew 14:17-21, Mark 6:38-44, John 6:9-12]} According to Luke 24:41-43, Jesus ate fish himself after his resurrection, what could be explained by the so-called "synoptic principle".^[14][15] The Synoptic Gospels narrate that Jesus expelled a legion of demons out of two people and allowed the unclean spirits, by their own request, to indwell a large herd of pigs, about two thousand. The swine ran violently down a steep bank into the Sea of Galilee, and died in the water. According to Proverbs 12:10, "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."

Luke's Acts of the Apostles portrays a story where the Apostle Peter has a vision where God declares previously unclean meat as "clean"^{[Acts 10:7-16]} and orders Peter to "kill and eat". Christian vegetarians maintain that "Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the dream might mean".^{[Acts 10:17]} John Vujicic argues that "In the sheet were also so called CLEAN animals. Peter could have at least selected some sheep or cattle and killed but he didn’t. Simply because he considered all flesh defiled and unclean. Peter was vegetarian as he himself states in Clementine Homilies. […] Peter would not kill any of them because he knew that this vision had another meaning […]. Any animal which is slaughtered is defiled and its meat defiles. Peter explains this in Clementine Homilies."^[16] He recognized its meaning when the gentile Cornelius invited him to dinner. Peter realized that the dream was instructing him not to go out and eat meat, but to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. The Jewish dietary laws should not prevent the spread of Christianity, and, at Cornelius' dinner, Peter related to his hosts, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit any one of another nation; but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean."^{[Acts 10:28][17]}

A number of Christian leaders, both ancient and modern, observe that vegetarianism was and is a sincere part of Christian faith. The Reverend Andrew Linzey has supported the historical view that Jesus was a vegetarian. In his book, The Lost Religion of Jesus, author Keith Akers lays out historical evidence that the historical Jesus was vegetarian.^[18]

Early Christianity

New Testament

Within Luke's Acts of the Apostles, Luke recounts that the Jerusalem Council authorized that (at least for Gentile Christians) it was tolerable to eat meat.^{[Acts 15:19–20]} Vegetarianism appears to have been a point of contention within early Christian circles. Within the Bible's New Testament, the Apostle Paul appears to ridicule vegetarians, arguing that people of "weak faith" "eat only vegetables",^{[Romans 14:1–4]} although he also warns believers to "stop passing judgment on one another" when it comes to food in verse 13 and "[It is] good neither to eat flesh" in verse 21. Paul also said, "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They […] order […] to abstain from certain foods".^{[1Timothy 4:1–3]} According to the Christian Vegetarian Association, Paul was not referring to vegetarianism, which was not an issue in those times, but to the practice of not eating meat from the meat market because of fear that, like the above issue involving Daniel, it were sacrificed to an idol.^{[1Corinthians 10:19-29][17]} "Wherefore, if meat [brōma, Strong's #1033,^[19] 'anything used as food'^[20]] make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."^{[1Corinthians 8:13]}

Patristic evidence

In the 4th Century some Jewish Christian groups maintained that Jesus was himself a vegetarian. Epiphanius quotes the Gospel of the Ebionites (a version of canonical Matthew adjusted by the Ebionite community) where Jesus has a confrontation with the high priest. Jesus chastises the leadership saying, "I am come to end the sacrifices and feasts of blood; and if ye cease not offering and eating of flesh and blood, the wrath of God shall not cease from you; even as it came to your fathers in the wilderness, who lusted for flesh, and did sat to their content, and were filled with rottenness, and the plague consumed them."^{[Numbers 11:32-34][21]}

According to Lightfoot, "the Christianized Essennes […] condemned the slaughter of victims on grounds very different from those alleged in the Epistle of Hebrews, not because they have been superseded by the Atonement, but because they are in their very nature repulsive to God; not because they have ceased to be right, but because they never were right from the beginning".^[13]

Other early Christian historical documents observe that many influential Christians during the formative centuries of Christianity were vegetarian, though certainly not all. The Clementine homilies, a second-century work purportedly based on the teachings of the Apostle Peter, states, "The unnatural eating of flesh meats is as polluting as the heathen worship of devils, with its sacrifices and its impure feasts, through participation in it a man becomes a fellow eater with devils."^[22]

Although early Christian vegetarianism appears to have been downplayed in favor of more modern Christian culture, the practice of vegetarianism appears to have been very widespread in early Christianity, both in the leadership and among the laity. Origen's work Contra Celsum quotes Celsus commenting vegetarian practices among Christians he had contact with.^[23] Although not vegetarian himself and vehemently against the idea that Christians must be vegetarians, Augustine nevertheless wrote that those Christians who "abstain both from flesh and from wine" are "without number".^[24]

Present-day churches and movements

Joseph Bates, vegetarian and one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The Seventh-day Adventists present a health message that recommends vegetarianism and expects abstinence from pork, shellfish and other foods proscribed as "unclean" in Leviticus.^[25] A number of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, including Joseph Bates and Ellen White adopted the vegetarian diet during the nineteenth century, and Ellen White reportedly received visions regarding the health benefits of the vegetarian diet.^[26] More recently, members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in California have been involved in research into longevity due to their healthy lifestyle, which includes maintaining a vegetarian diet.^[27] This research has been included within a National Geographic article.^[28] Another denomination with common origin, the Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement requires vegetarianism as a test of fellowship, with many of its members being practicing vegans as well.

The Word of Wisdom is a dietary law given to adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement (also known as Mormonism) which says that meat and fowl "are to be used sparingly; And ... that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine."^[29] Not given as advice, this commandment is reiterated in the same section, "And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger."^[30]

Some members of the Religious Society of Friends (also known as Quakers) practice vegetarianism or veganism as a reflection of the Peace Testimony, extending non-violence towards animals.^[31] Historically, the early vegetarian movement had many Quaker promoters. Some Ranter sects back in the mid-17th century are known to have been vegetarian as well.

Roman Catholic monastic orders such as the Carthusians and Cistercians follow a strict vegetarian diet. Carmelites and others following the Rule of St. Albert also maintain a vegetarian diet, although the old and sick are permitted to eat meat according to this rule of life. However, Pope John III declared an anathema against the vegetarians at the First Council of Braga in Portugal.^[32][33]

The Liberal Catholic Movement traditionally had many people who were vegetarians and still have.^[34]

Christian anarchists, such as Leo Tolstoy, Ammon Hennacy and Théodore Monod, extend the Christian principles of compassion and nonviolence through following a vegetarian diet.^[35][36][37]

Some Rastafaris abstain from all flesh whatsoever, asserting that to touch meat is to touch death, and is therefore a violation of the Nazirite vow.

'Fasting' and temporary abstinence

If one eats flesh — even 'only at Christmas' — one is not veg(etari)an. Some practices, however, are incorrectly labeled "vegetarianism".

All Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic monastics abstain from meat year-round, and many abstain from dairy and seafood as well. Through obedience to the Orthodox Church and its ascetic practices,^[38] the Orthodox Christian seeks to rid himself or herself of the passions, or the disposition to sin.^{[citation needed]}

Laity generally abstains from animal products on Wednesdays (because, according to Christian tradition, Judas betrayed Jesus on the Wednesday prior to the Crucifixion of Jesus) and Fridays (because Jesus is thought to have been crucified on the subsequent Friday), as well as during the four major fasting periods of the year: Great Lent, the Apostles' Fast, the Dormition Fast and the Nativity Fast. Catholic laity are encouraged to abstain from red meat on Fridays and through the Lenten season leading up to Easter.^{[citation needed]} That is not for animal rights or environmental reasons, but due to traditional abstinence guidelines.

In some Christian communities partial fasting, for example during Lent, meat and dairy products are forbidden for a temporary period. For some groups, such as Catholics, seafood is permitted during these periods of fasting.^{[citation needed]} Unlike vegetarianism, abstaining from meat and dairy products during Lent is intended to be temporary, lasting only until the season is over, not a permanent way of life.

See also

Christianity portal

• Animal chaplains
• Christian pacifism
• Eastern Orthodox Fasting
• Fruitarianism
• Jesuism
• Islam and animals
• Postmodern Christianity
• Simple living
• Vegetarianism and religion
• Vegetarianism in Judaism

References

1. ^ Christian Vegetarian Association UK. "Why a Vegetarian Diet?". http://www.caninestyle.co.uk/cvauk/pdf/sgwk1.PDF. 
2. ^ Christian Ecology Link. "Vegetarianism". http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/vegetarianism.htm. 
3. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary. "Animal". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=animal. Retrieved 11 August 2011. 
4. ^ ^{a b} John Vujicic. "Animals Are Also Living Souls". http://bewaredeception.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2:animals-are-also-living-souls&catid=1:articles&Itemid=3. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
5. ^ http://www.jewishveg.com/torah.html
6. ^ Keith Akers. The Lost Religion of Jesus. p. 240. http://books.google.com/books?id=7LfL6E50ZWgC&pg=PA240. "Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.1.26, reports an early Christian martyr who interpreted the prohibition of the blood of animals to imply vegetarianism. Minucius Felix refers to bloodshed in the arena and the blood of animals in the same breath (Octavius 29.6). Tertullian points out that Christians are forbidden both human and animal blood (Apology 9). Sandmel states that blood could refer either to the blood of a sacrificed animal or to human violence: Judaism and Christian Beginnings, p. 408." 
7. ^ John Vujicic. "Did God allow Noah to eat meat?". http://bewaredeception.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12:did-god-really-allow-noah-to-eat-meat&catid=1:articles&Itemid=3. 
8. ^ All-creatures.org. "Commentary on Genesis 9:2-4 - : Comments and Discussions". http://www.all-creatures.org/discuss/genesis9.2-4-jv.html. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Richard H. Schwartz (2001). Judaism and vegetarianism (3, revised ed.). Lantern Books. pp. 6, 7. ISBN 9781930051249. http://books.google.com/books?id=zo5TqKQVcEgC&pg=PA6. 
10. ^ Gary Francione. "About | Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach". http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/about/. Retrieved 22 May 2011. 
11. ^ bdb, p. 834.
12. ^ bdb, p. 283.
13. ^ ^{a b} J.B. Lightfoot, D.D. (1875). St. Paul's epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon : a revised text with introductions, notes, and dissertations. London: Macmillan. p. 135. http://www.archive.org/stream/stpaulsepistles00lighgoog#page/n145/mode/1up. Retrieved 11 November 2010. 
14. ^ John Vujicic. "Did Jesus Eat Fish? (Luke 24:41-43)". http://www.all-creatures.org/discuss/didjesuseatfish-jv.html. Retrieved 20 January 2011.  Also available on the author's website; retrieved 2011-09-23.
15. ^ Keith Akers. "Christian / Vegetarian Dialogue". http://www.compassionatespirit.com/christian-vegetarian-dialog.htm. Retrieved 16 April 2011. "The central issue for the vegetarian community is what has been called the "ethical" issue […] ethical vegetarianism is incompatible with the orthodox view of a meat-eating Jesus" 
16. ^ John Vujicic (2009-09-17). "Did Jesus Eat Fish? (Luke 24:41-43) Comments". http://www.all-creatures.org/discuss/didjesuseatfish-20090917-jv.html. Retrieved 20 January 2011. 
17. ^ ^{a b} Christian Vegetarian Association. "Honoring God’s Creation -- Replies". http://www.all-creatures.org/cva/hgc-replies.htm. Retrieved 31 August 2010. 
18. ^ Keith Akers. "Was Jesus a vegetarian?". http://www.compassionatespirit.com/was_jesus_a_vegetarian.htm. Retrieved 23 October 2010. 
19. ^ "BibleLexicon.org". http://biblelexicon.org/1_corinthians/8-13.htm. 
20. ^ Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament. 1887. http://www.archive.org/stream/greekenglishlex00grimuoft#page/106/mode/1up.  Translated by Joseph Henry Thayer.
21. ^ Conscious Eating, Gabriel Cousens, pp.385-386
22. ^ Homily XII
23. ^ Gerald Schlabach. "Celsus' view of Christians and Christianity". http://web.archive.org/web/20080126101021/http://www.bluffton.edu/~humanities/1/celsus.htm. Retrieved 5 November 2011. "If in obedience to the traditions of their fathers they abstain from such victims, they must also abstain from all animal food, in accordance with the opinions of Pythagoras, who thus showed his respect for the soul and its bodily organs. But if, as they say, they abstain that they may not eat along with demons, I admire their wisdom, in having at length discovered, that whenever they eat they eat with demons, although they only refuse to do so when they are looking upon a slain victim; for when they eat bread, or drink wine, or taste fruits, do they not receive these things, as well as the water they drink and the air they breathe, from certain demons, to whom have been assigned these different provinces of nature?" 
24. ^ On the Morals of the Catholic Church 33. Apud Keith Akers. "Was Jesus a Vegetarian?". http://www.compassionatespirit.com/was_jesus_a_vegetarian.htm. Retrieved 10 September 2011. 
25. ^ Caring for Creation - A Statement on the Environment
26. ^ White, Arthur. Ellen G. White Volume 2: The Progressive Years 1862–1876, Review & Herald Publishing, 1986.
27. ^ Loma Linda University Adventist Health Study: Mortality
28. ^ Longevity, The Secrets of Long Life - National Geographic Magazine
29. ^ http://www.ldsveg.org/ LDS Veg
30. ^ "Doctrine & Covenants, section 89". http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/89. Retrieved 2008-09-09. 
31. ^ VegetarianFriends.net. "Vegetarian Friends". http://www.vegetarianfriends.net/. 
32. ^ "Catholic Encyclopaedia - Councils of Braga". New Advent. Quote: "That all priests who abstained from eating meat should be obliged to eat vegetables cooked in meat, to avoid all suspicion of the taint of Priscillianism, and that if they refused they should be excommunicated."
33. ^ "Synodus Bracarensis prima". Benedictus Levita. Quote: "XIII. Item placuit ut quicumque in clero cibos carnium non utuntur, pro amputanda suspicione priscillianę heresis vel olera cocta cum carnibus tantum pregustare cogantur. Quod si contempserint, secundum quod de talibus sancti patres antiquitus statuerunt, necesse est pro suspitione heresis huius offitio excommunicatus omnimodis removeri."
34. ^ "Liberal Catholic Church". Cross Denominational Mission. Quote: "[The Liberal Catholic Church] encourages its priests and its bishops to have a vegetarian diet and to refrain from using tobacco as well as alcohol."
35. ^ "History of Vegetarianism - Leo Tolstoy". http://www.ivu.org/history/tolstoy/. 
36. ^ Hennacy, Ammon (1965). The Book of Ammon. Hennacy. p. 125. "I had been vegetarian since 1910" 
37. ^ Geological Society of London (2007). Four centuries of geological travel. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=olMgmIYuMPYC&pg=PA192. "Monod became a vegetarian and an ardent pacifist" 
38. ^ Disclaimer: "The meaning of asceticism discourses is complex." The word, however, is frequently used in a derogatory way against the veg(etari)an movement. Characterizing veganism as asceticism, pp. 141–142. In: Matthew Cole, Karen Morgan (2011). "Vegaphobia: derogatory discourses of veganism and the reproduction of speciesism in UK national newspapers". The British Journal of Sociology 62 (1). doi:10.1111/j.1468-4446.2010.01348.x. 

Further reading

• Charles P. Vaclavik (1989) The Vegetarianism of Jesus Christ: The Pacifism, Communalism and Vegetarianism of Primitive Christianity, Kaweah Publishing. ISBN 0-945146-01-9
• Richard A. Young (1998) Is God a Vegetarian?: Christianity, Vegetarianism, and Animal Rights, Open Court Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8126-9393-0
• Keith Akers (2000) The Lost Religion of Jesus, Lantern Books. ISBN 1-930051-26-3, Historical overview of Christian vegetarianism
• Stephen R. Kaufman and Nathan Braun (2002) Good News for All Creation, Vegetarian Advocates Press. ISBN 0-9716676-0-8, Overview of contemporary Christian vegetarianism
• Stephen H. Webb (2001) Good Eating, Brazos Press. ISBN 1-58743-015-0, A sound and informative view on Biblical and Christian vegetarianism, from Genesis to modern day saints.
• Niki Behrikis Shanahan. There is eternal life for animals. Pete, 2002. ISBN 0-9720301-0-7.
• Holly H. Roberts. Vegetarian Christian saints. Anjeli, 2004. ISBN 0-9754844-0-0. The life stories of 150 individuals canonized into sainthood who were committed to vegetarianism.
• John Dear (2005) Christianity and Vegetarianism: Pursuing the Nonviolence of Jesus, booklet published by PETA
• Tristram Stuart (2007) The Bloodless Revolution, ISBN 13: 978-0-393-05220-6, A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times (Quaker reference)
• Kristin Johnston Largen (2009). "A Christian Rationale for vegetarianism". Dialog 48 (2): 147–157. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6385.2009.00450.x. 
• David Grumett and Rachel Muers (2010) Theology on the Menu: Asceticism, Meat and Christian Diet, Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-49683-4, a systematic and historical assessment of Christian attitudes to food and its role in shaping Christian identity.
• John M. Gilheany (2010) Familiar Strangers: The Church and the Vegetarian Movement in Britain (1809-2009), Ascendant Press. ISBN 978-0-9552945-1-8

External links

• Jewish Encyclopedia: Vegetarianism
• Christian Vegetarian Association
• The Fellowship of Life archive of British activism since the 1970s
• Biblical Vegetarianism (The Nazarene Way of Essenic Studies)
• Why Should Christians be Vegetarians? (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)
• Christianity and Vegetarianism: Some Thoughts, compiled by David Ogilvie
• Christianity and Animals: An Interview with Andrew Linzey (1996)
• Christianity and Vegetarianism PowerPoint presentation, by God's Creatures Ministry
• Christianity and Vegetarianism - Pursuing the non-violence of Jesus, Fr. John Dear S.J
• Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians - An Interfaith Peace Effort Pursuing Plant-based, Nonviolent Nutrition
• Christian Vegetarianism (British publications archived from the 1800s)
• Episcopal Network For Animal Welfare (Episcopal prayers and blessings for animals)