Christian vegetarianism
Encyclopedia
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, Christian
s may be vegetarian for ethical
, environmental
, nutritional
or other spiritual
reasons.
, Latin for soul, were completely vegetarian, and "it was very good".[] 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,[] but forbade consuming "blood, which is life".[] However, some maintain that God permitted the consumption of meat only temporarily because all plants had been destroyed as a result of the flood, 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, but as an invitation (rhetoric or not) to necrophagy. "The biological fact is: no matter what you do you can never remove all the blood from the flesh of a slaughtered animal."
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."[] 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".[] (See Speciesism
.)
Centuries after Noah, 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.[] The sacrifices (including the Paschal Lamb), however, are considered as types
of the Lamb of God, an innocent
victim, torture
d and murder
ed.
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" and which probably was not an animal product and was offered to them by God during The Exodus
.[] They preferred meat, and were condemned for it.[] Because of that lust, the place where the incident happened became known as Kibroth Hattaavah
.
A donkey believed to have spoken showed Ballaam more than signs of sentience.[]
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:
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) and instead requests vegetables (zērōʿîm, Strong's #2235).[] 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".[]
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
.
and, supposedly therefore, necessarily consistent. Critics of the supposed Biblical inerrancy may use verses like or 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.[, , ] According to , Jesus ate fish himself after his resurrection, what could be explained by the so-called "synoptic principle". The Synoptic Gospels
narrate that Jesus expelled a legion of demons out of two people and allowed the unclean spirit
s, 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 , "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"[] and orders Peter to "kill and eat". Christian vegetarians maintain that "Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the dream might mean".[] 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." 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."[]
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.
authorized that (at least for Gentile Christians) it was tolerable to eat meat.[] Vegetarianism appears to have been a point of contention within early Christian
circles. Within the Bibles New Testament
, the Apostle Paul appears to ridicule vegetarians, arguing that people of "weak faith" "eat only vegetables",[] 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".[] 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.[] "Wherefore, if meat [brōma, Strong's #1033, 'anything used as food'] make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."[]
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."[]
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".
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."
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. 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".
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
. 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. 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. This research has been included within a National Geographic article. 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." 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."
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. 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.
The Liberal Catholic Movement
traditionally had many people who were vegetarians and still have.
Christian anarchists
, such as Leo Tolstoy
, Ammon Hennacy
and Théodore Monod
, extend the Christian principles of compassion and nonviolence
through following a vegetarian diet.
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.
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
, the Orthodox Christian seeks to rid himself or herself of the passions, or the disposition to sin.
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
. 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. 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.
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
Christian belief based on effecting the compassionate teachings
Great Commandment
The Great Commandment, or Greatest Commandment, is an appellation applied to either the first, or both, of two commandments which appear in , and...
of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, the twelve apostles and the early church to all living beings through vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
or, ideally, veganism
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
. Alternatively, Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s may be vegetarian for ethical
Ethics of eating meat
In many societies, controversy and debate have arisen over the ethics of eating animals. Ethical objections are generally divided into opposition to the act of killing in general, and opposition to certain agricultural practices surrounding the production of meat...
, environmental
Environmental vegetarianism
Environmental vegetarianism is the practice of vegetarianism or veganism based on the indications that animal production, particularly by intensive agriculture, is environmentally unsustainable...
, nutritional
Vegetarian nutrition
Vegetarian nutrition is the set of health-related challenges and advantages of vegetarian diets.Well-planned vegetarian and vegan diets are nutritionally adequate and are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence...
or other spiritual
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
reasons.
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 ānimaAnima
Anima may refer to:*the Latin term for the "animating principle", see vitalism**the Latin translation of Greek psyche**in Christian contexts, the soul**see also spirit...
, Latin for soul, were completely vegetarian, and "it was very good".[] According to some interpretations of the Bible, raw veganism
Raw veganism
Raw veganism is a diet that combines veganism and raw foodism. It excludes all food of animal origin, and all food cooked above 48 degrees Celsius . A raw vegan diet includes raw vegetables and fruits, nuts and nut pastes, grain and legume sprouts, seeds, plant oils, sea vegetables, herbs, and...
was the original diet of humankind in the form given to Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
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
Edenic diet
The Edenic diet is the diet believed by practitioners to have been followed by Adam and Eve in the biblical Book of Genesis. The Reverend Sylvester Graham was a proponent, advocating a diet without meat—especially pork—shellfish, fatty sauces, spices, salt, sugar, coffee, tea, condiments, and...
).
Immediately after the Flood, God allegedly permitted the eating of meat,[] but forbade consuming "blood, which is life".[] However, some maintain that God permitted the consumption of meat only temporarily because all plants had been destroyed as a result of the flood, 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
Ethics of eating meat
In many societies, controversy and debate have arisen over the ethics of eating animals. Ethical objections are generally divided into opposition to the act of killing in general, and opposition to certain agricultural practices surrounding the production of meat...
if the blood is supposedly excluded from alimentation, but as an invitation (rhetoric or not) to necrophagy. "The biological fact is: no matter what you do you can never remove all the blood from the flesh of a slaughtered animal."
One of the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
says categorically, "Thou shalt not kill
You shall not murder
You shall not murder or You shall not kill, KJV Thou shalt not kill , is a moral imperative included as one of the Ten Commandments in the Torah, specificallyExodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17....
" — without specifying that some animals are allowed to be killed. Isaiah states "He that killeth an ox [is as if] he slew a man."[] However, specific sacrifices of animals for the atonement of sin are also mandated, by Moses, what may be inconsistent with the principle of grace
Grace (Christianity)
In Christian theology, grace is God’s gift of God’s self to humankind. It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" - that takes the form of divine favour, love and clemency. It is an attribute of God that is most...
: one cannot force someone to forgive. When the Moabite king Mesha
Mesha Stele
The Mesha Stele is a black basalt stone bearing an inscription by the 9th century BC ruler Mesha of Moab in Jordan....
offered in a holocaust
Holocaust (sacrifice)
A holocaust is a religious animal sacrifice that is completely consumed by fire. The word derives from the Ancient Greek holocaustos , which is used solely for one of the major forms of sacrifice....
"his eldest son
Child sacrifice
Child sacrifice is the ritualistic killing of children in order to please, propitiate or force a god or supernatural beings in order to achieve a desired result...
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".[] (See Speciesism
Speciesism
Speciesism is the assigning of different values or rights to beings on the basis of their species membership. The term was created by British psychologist Richard D...
.)
Centuries after Noah, records God giving the Israelites rules about what types of meat
Unclean animals
Unclean animals, in some religions, are animals whose consumption or handling is labeled a taboo. According to these religion's dogmas, persons who handle such animals may need to purify themselves to get rid of their uncleanness.-Judaism:...
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.[] The sacrifices (including the Paschal Lamb), however, are considered as types
Typology (theology)
Typology in Christian theology and Biblical exegesis is a doctrine or theory concerning the relationship between the Old and New Testaments...
of the Lamb of God, an innocent
Innocence
Innocence is a term used to indicate a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, sin, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence refers to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime.-Symbolism:...
victim, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed.
The Israelites tired of manna
Manna
Manna or Manna wa Salwa , sometimes or archaically spelled mana, is the name of an edible substance that God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert according to the Bible.It was said to be sweet to the taste, like honey....
, a food of which "The Rabbis of the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
held that […] had whatever taste and flavor the eater desired at the time of eating" and which probably was not an animal product and was offered to them by God during The Exodus
The Exodus
The Exodus is the story of the departure of the Israelites from ancient Egypt described in the Hebrew Bible.Narrowly defined, the term refers only to the departure from Egypt described in the Book of Exodus; more widely, it takes in the subsequent law-givings and wanderings in the wilderness...
.[] They preferred meat, and were condemned for it.[] Because of that lust, the place where the incident happened became known as Kibroth Hattaavah
Kibroth Hattaavah
Kibroth-hattaavah is one of the locations at which, according to the Book of Numbers, the Israelites passed through during their Exodus journey...
.
A donkey believed to have spoken showed Ballaam more than signs of sentience.[]
Some Christians believe that the Bible explains that, in the future
Dispensation (period)
In certain religions, a dispensation is a distinctive arrangement or period in history that forms the framework through which God relates to mankind.-Protestant dispensations:...
, human and nonhuman animals will return to veganism, regarded by animal abolitionists
Abolitionism (animal rights)
Abolitionism within the animal rights movement is the idea that focusing on animal welfare reform not only fails to challenge animal suffering, but may prolong it by making the exercise of property rights over animals appear acceptable. The abolitionists' objective is to secure a moral and legal...
as the moral baseline of animal rights:
Some people believe that the Book of Daniel
Book of Daniel
The Book of Daniel is a book in the Hebrew Bible. The book tells of how Daniel, and his Judean companions, were inducted into Babylon during Jewish exile, and how their positions elevated in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The court tales span events that occur during the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar,...
also specifically promotes vegetarianism as beneficial. Daniel specifically refuses the king's "meat" (paṯbaḡ, Strong
Strong's Concordance
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, generally known as Strong's Concordance, is a concordance of the King James Bible that was constructed under the direction of Dr. James Strong and first published in 1890. Dr. Strong was Professor of exegetical theology at Drew Theological Seminary at...
's #5698) and instead requests vegetables (zērōʿîm, Strong's #2235).[] 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
Vegetarian nutrition
Vegetarian nutrition is the set of health-related challenges and advantages of vegetarian diets.Well-planned vegetarian and vegan diets are nutritionally adequate and are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence...
in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat".[]
Philo
Philo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
says that the Essenes
Essenes
The Essenes were a Jewish sect that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests...
, “being more scrupulous than any in the worship of God […] do not sacrifice animals
Animal sacrifice
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practised by many religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature...
[…], but hold it right to dedicate their own hearts as a worthy offering”. They maintained that the sacrifices "polluted" the Temple
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
.
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 inspiredBiblical inspiration
Biblical inspiration is the doctrine in Christian theology that the authors and editors of the Bible were led or influenced by God with the result that their writings many be designated in some sense the word of God.- Etymology :...
and, supposedly therefore, necessarily consistent. Critics of the supposed Biblical inerrancy may use verses like or in order to support what they understand as impartiality
Impartiality
Impartiality is a principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person over another for improper reasons.-Philosophical concepts of impartiality:According to Bernard Gert, "A is...
. (See Biblical criticism
Biblical criticism
Biblical criticism is the scholarly "study and investigation of Biblical writings that seeks to make discerning judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work...
.) Jesus is regarded in Christianity to be the "Son of God
Son of God
"Son of God" is a phrase which according to most Christian denominations, Trinitarian in belief, refers to the relationship between Jesus and God, specifically as "God the Son"...
" and-or
And/or
And/or is a phrase used to indicate that one or more of the stated cases may occur. For example, the sentence "He will eat cake, pie, and/or brownies" indicates that although the person may eat any of the three listed desserts, the choices are not exclusive; the person may eat one, two, or all...
the "Theanthropos", the incarnation of God. The Gospels offer that Jesus gave fish to others.[, , ] According to , Jesus ate fish himself after his resurrection, what could be explained by the so-called "synoptic principle". The Synoptic Gospels
Synoptic Gospels
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in the same sequence, and sometimes exactly the same wording. This degree of parallelism in content, narrative arrangement, language, and sentence structures can only be...
narrate that Jesus expelled a legion of demons out of two people and allowed the unclean spirit
Unclean spirit
In English translations of the Bible, unclean spirit is a common rendering of Greek pneuma akatharton , which in its single occurrence in the Septuagint translates Hebrew ....
s, by their own request, to indwell a large herd of pigs
Legion (demon)
Legion is a group of demons referred to in the Christian Bible. The New Testament outlines an encounter where Jesus healed a man from Gadarenes possessed by demons while traveling, known as Exorcising the Gerasenes demonic.- In the Bible :...
, about two thousand. The swine ran violently down a steep bank into the Sea of Galilee
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...
, and died in the water. According to , "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."
Luke's Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
portrays a story where the Apostle Peter has a vision
Peter's vision of a sheet with animals
According to the story in Acts 10, Saint Peter had a vision of a sheet full of animals being lowered from heaven. A voice from heaven told Peter to kill and eat, but since the sheet contained unclean animals, Peter declined...
where God declares previously unclean meat as "clean"[] and orders Peter to "kill and eat". Christian vegetarians maintain that "Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the dream might mean".[] 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
Clementine literature
Clementine literature is the name given to the religious romance which purports to contain a record made by one Clement of discourses...
. […] 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." He recognized its meaning when the gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
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."[]
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
Andrew Linzey
Andrew Linzey is an Anglican priest, theologian, author, and prominent figure in the Christian vegetarian movement. He is a member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford and held the world’s first academic post in Ethics, Theology and Animal Welfare — the Bede Jarret Senior Research...
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
Historical Jesus
The term historical Jesus refers to scholarly reconstructions of the 1st-century figure Jesus of Nazareth. These reconstructions are based upon historical methods including critical analysis of gospel texts as the primary source for his biography, along with consideration of the historical and...
was vegetarian.
New Testament
Within Luke's Acts of the Apostles, Luke recounts that the Jerusalem CouncilCouncil of Jerusalem
The Council of Jerusalem is a name applied by historians and theologians to an Early Christian council that was held in Jerusalem and dated to around the year 50. It is considered by Catholics and Orthodox to be a prototype and forerunner of the later Ecumenical Councils...
authorized that (at least for Gentile Christians) it was tolerable to eat meat.[] Vegetarianism appears to have been a point of contention within early Christian
Early Christianity
Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
circles. Within the Bibles New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, the Apostle Paul appears to ridicule vegetarians, arguing that people of "weak faith" "eat only vegetables",[] 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".[] According to the Christian Vegetarian Association
Christian Vegetarian Association
The Christian Vegetarian Association is an international, non-denominational Christian ministry that promotes responsible stewardship of God's creation through plant-based eating...
, 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
Meat market
A meat market is, traditionally, a marketplace where meat is sold, often by a butcher.It may also refer to:* Meat packing industry* As an alternative spelling for meet market, a singles event or location with many single people, especially one where attendees are rapidly sizing up members of the...
because of fear that, like the above issue involving Daniel, it were sacrificed to an idol.[] "Wherefore, if meat [brōma, Strong's #1033, 'anything used as food'] make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."[]
Patristic evidence
In the 4th Century some Jewish Christian groups maintained that Jesus was himself a vegetarian. EpiphaniusEpiphanius of Salamis
Epiphanius of Salamis was bishop of Salamis at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He gained a reputation as a strong defender of orthodoxy...
quotes the Gospel of the Ebionites
Gospel of the Ebionites
Gospel of the Ebionites is the conventional name given to the description by Epiphanius of Salamis of a gospel used by the Ebionites. All that is known of the gospel text consists of seven brief quotations found in Chapter 30 of a heresiology written by Epiphanius known as the Panarion...
(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."[]
According to Lightfoot
Joseph Barber Lightfoot
Joseph Barber Lightfoot was an English theologian and Bishop of Durham, usually known as J.B. Lightfoot....
, "the Christianized Essennes […] condemned the slaughter of victims on grounds very different from those alleged in the Epistle of Hebrews
Epistle to the Hebrews
The Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the books in the New Testament. Its author is not known.The primary purpose of the Letter to the Hebrews is to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. The central thought of the entire Epistle is the doctrine of the Person of Christ and his...
, not because they have been superseded
Supersessionism
Supersessionism is a term for the dominant Christian view of the Old Covenant, also called fulfillment theology and replacement theology, though the latter term is disputed...
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".
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."
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
Origen
Origen , or Origen Adamantius, 184/5–253/4, was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, in part because he believed in the pre-existence of souls...
's work Contra Celsum quotes Celsus
Celsus
Celsus was a 2nd century Greek philosopher and opponent of Early Christianity. He is known for his literary work, The True Word , written about by Origen. This work, c. 177 is the earliest known comprehensive attack on Christianity.According to Origen, Celsus was the author of an...
commenting vegetarian practices among Christians he had contact with. Although not vegetarian himself and vehemently against the idea that Christians must be vegetarians, Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
nevertheless wrote that those Christians who "abstain both from flesh and from wine" are "without number".
Present-day churches and movements
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
present a health message that recommends vegetarianism and expects abstinence from pork, shellfish and other foods proscribed as "unclean" in Leviticus
Leviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
. A number of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, including Joseph Bates
Joseph Bates (Adventist)
Joseph Bates was an American seaman and revivalist minister. He was the founder and developer of Sabbatarian Adventism, a strain of religious thinking that evolved into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Bates is also credited with convincing James White and Ellen G...
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. 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. This research has been included within a National Geographic article. Another denomination with common origin, the Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement
Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement
The Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement is a Protestant Christian denomination, part of the Sabbatarian adventist movement, and formed as the result of a schism within the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Europe during World War I over the position its leadership took on proper Sabbath observance...
requires vegetarianism as a test of fellowship, with many of its members being practicing vegans as well.
The Word of Wisdom
Word of Wisdom
The "Word of Wisdom" is the common name of a section of the Doctrine and Covenants, a book considered by many churches within the Latter Day Saint movement to consist of revelations from God...
is a dietary law given to adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
(also known as Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
) 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." 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."
Some members of the Religious Society of Friends
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
(also known as Quakers) practice vegetarianism or veganism as a reflection of the Peace Testimony
Peace Testimony
Peace testimony, or testimony against war, is a shorthand description of the action generally taken by members of the Religious Society of Friends for peace and against participation in war. Like other Quaker testimonies, it is not a "belief", but a description of committed actions, in this case...
, extending non-violence towards animals. Historically, the early vegetarian movement had many Quaker promoters. Some Ranter
Ranter
The Ranters were an alleged sect in the time of the English Commonwealth who were regarded as heretical by the established Church of that period...
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
Carmelites
The Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or Carmelites is a Catholic religious order perhaps founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel, hence its name. However, historical records about its origin remain uncertain...
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
Pope John III
Pope John III was pope from 561 to July 13, 574. He was born in Rome, of a distinguished family. The Liber Pontificalis calls him a son of one Anastasius. His father bore the title of illustris, more than likely being a vir illustris...
declared an anathema
Anathema
Anathema originally meant something lifted up as an offering to the gods; it later evolved to mean:...
against the vegetarians at the First Council of Braga
First Council of Braga
In the First Council of Braga of 561 eight bishops took part, and twenty-two decrees were promulgated, among others the following: that in the services of the church the same rite should be followed by all, and that on vigils and in solemn Masses the same lessons should be said by all; that bishops...
in Portugal.
The Liberal Catholic Movement
Liberal Catholic Movement
The Liberal Catholic Movement refers to those Churches whose foundation traces back to the founding bishops of the Liberal Catholic Church. It is different from the Roman Catholic Church...
traditionally had many people who were vegetarians and still have.
Christian anarchists
Christian anarchism
Christian anarchism is a movement in political theology that combines anarchism and Christianity. It is the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable, the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus...
, such as Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
, Ammon Hennacy
Ammon Hennacy
Ammon Ashford Hennacy was an Irish American pacifist, Christian anarchist, social activist, member of the Catholic Worker Movement and a Wobbly...
and Théodore Monod
Théodore Monod
Théodore André Monod was a French naturalist, explorer, and humanist scholar.-Exploration:...
, extend the Christian principles of compassion and nonviolence
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
through following a vegetarian diet.
Some Rastafaris
Rastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
abstain from all flesh whatsoever, asserting that to touch meat is to touch death, and is therefore a violation of the Nazirite
Nazirite
In the Hebrew Bible, a nazirite or nazarite, , refers to one who voluntarily took a vow described in . The term "nazirite" comes from the Hebrew word nazir meaning "consecrated" or "separated"...
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
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
, 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
Asceticism
Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...
, the Orthodox Christian seeks to rid himself or herself of the passions, or the disposition to sin.
Laity
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
generally abstains from animal products on Wednesdays (because, according to Christian tradition, Judas betrayed Jesus on the Wednesday prior to the Crucifixion of Jesus
Holy Wednesday
In Christianity, Holy Wednesday is the Wednesday of the Holy Week, the week before Easter...
) and Fridays (because Jesus is thought to have been crucified
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
on the subsequent Friday), as well as during the four major fasting periods of the year: Great Lent
Great Lent
Great Lent, or the Great Fast, is the most important fasting season in the church year in Eastern Christianity, which prepares Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Pascha . In many ways Great Lent is similar to Lent in Western Christianity...
, the Apostles' Fast
Apostles' Fast
The Apostles' Fast, also called the Fast of the Holy Apostles, the Fast of Peter and Paul, or sometimes St. Peter's Fast, is a fast observed by Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Christians...
, the Dormition Fast and the Nativity Fast
Nativity Fast
The Nativity Fast is a period of abstinence and penance practiced by the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches, in preparation for the Nativity of Christ, . The fast is similar to the Western Advent, except that it runs for 40 days instead of four weeks. The fast is...
. Catholic laity are encouraged to abstain from red meat on Fridays and through the Lenten season leading up to Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
. 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
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
, meat and dairy products are forbidden for a temporary period. For some groups, such as Catholics, seafood
Seafood
Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...
is permitted during these periods of fasting. 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.
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. KaufmanStephen R. KaufmanStephen R. Kaufman is an ophthalmologist specializing in retinal disease and a clinical assistant professor at both Case Western Reserve University and Northeastern Ohio University's College of Medicine...
and Nathan Braun (2002) Good News for All Creation, Vegetarian Advocates Press. ISBN 0-9716676-0-8, Overview of contemporary Christian vegetarianism - Stephen H. WebbStephen H. WebbStephen H. Webb is a theologian and philosopher of religion.Webb graduated from Wabash College in 1983, earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, and has been teaching at Wabash College as Professor of Religion and Philosophy since 1988. Born in 1961 and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, he...
(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 DearJohn DearJohn Dear is an American Catholic priest, Christian pacifist, author and lecturer. He has been arrested over 75 times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience against war, injustice and nuclear weapons.-Studies:...
(2005) Christianity and Vegetarianism: Pursuing the Nonviolence of Jesus, booklet published by PETA - Tristram StuartTristram StuartTristram Stuart is an English author and historian.Stuart read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating in 1999 and winning the Betha Wolferstan Rylands prize and the Graham Storey prize; his directors of studies were Peter Holland and John Lennard...
(2007) The Bloodless Revolution, ISBN 13: 978-0-393-05220-6, A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times (Quaker reference) - 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)