tailieunhanh - Animals, Gods and Humans - CONSEQUENCES

CONSEQUENC ES From pagan to Christian conceptions of animals In the Christian process of transforming and shaping ancient culture, conceptions of animals did not remain unaffected. Conceptions of animals are dependent on acceptance and reinterpretation of traditions and narratives about animals from the past | CONSEQUENCES From pagan to Christian conceptions of animals In the Christian process of transforming and shaping ancient culture conceptions of animals did not remain unaffected. Conceptions of animals are dependent on acceptance and reinterpretation of traditions and narratives about animals from the past as well as on cultural interaction which in turn will inevitably lead to reinterpretation and change. When Christianity gradually took over the religious discourse of the Roman Empire it incorporated traditional conceptions of animals into its own intellectual and imaginative universe and gave them some new contexts and meanings. Christian conceptions were clearly dependent on processes that had started several centuries before but Christianization had a cumulative effect on these processes. The Christian focus filtered and shaped the ways in which animals were regarded not least because of their new contextualization within its religious universe. From Genesis comes the idea of man being made in the image of God that the natural world was placed under human dominion and that man s function is to act as steward to the animals. Because man exclusively among the species was made in the image of God the boundary between animals and humans was strengthened. Even comparing humans and animals became problematic after the victory of Christianity. What was most valuable in life belonged to humans only and the characteristics through which humans approached God were those that really mattered. Such views were not uniquely Christian but Christian theology went further than contemporary philosophies when it created its view of animals. From Greek philosophy and especially the Stoics stems the idea that animals are without reason language and soul. The Stoic conception of animals gave a strong legitimation for using them for human purposes. However there were other components in the Christian view of animals for instance that the flesh of animals was categorically different