The Question of the Animal and Religion: Theoretical Stakes, Practical Implications Paperback – December 2, 2014

Not a big fan

Professor Gross has written a highly important book that is well worth the effort needed to read and comprehend it.Yes, it does require effort for the lay reader, as this is a book written for academia, in thick academese, with many references to scholars with whom I was wholly unfamiliar.But Gross, in just 202 pages, has managed to produce a work that is both sweeping in its scope and penetrating in its depth, raising existential questions about what it means to be human amid the global, annual slaughter of 60 billion land animals in food production.The professor reminds us that we owe our very existence to the compassion and restraint of others – a compassion and restraint that is tragically missing from our relationship with farm animals.Judaism’s sacred texts place a great deal of emphasis on the human-animal relationship, establishing a moral imperative to treat animals with exquisite sensitivity. Sadly, this area of textual emphasis is “a disavowed centrality” in religious practice, Gross writes.With this book, Gross has issued a clarion call to restore the compassionate treatment of animals to its proper, central place in Jewish discourse and practice. Given the intensity of the violence and the immensity of the bloodbath in modern animal agriculture, it is more important than ever that Jews hear the call.

It’s not often that I have the pleasure of reading a book that blends academic rigor, practical application, and personal reflection so well. But it makes sense, given the author’s background (Dr. Gross is both a professor of religious studies and founder of a non-profit dealing with farm animal issues).The book starts by discussing the shocking events at a kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa. Cattle routinely were being slaughtered while conscious and in great pain.This sad story serves as a jumping-off point to talk about both how our religious beliefs (Jewish or otherwise) should inform the way we treat animals and how they often fail to do so. When asked, most of us feel that animals shouldn’t be mistreated, think this applies to farm animals as well as companion animals, and feel at least vaguely uneasy about our modern industrialized food system’s treatment of animals.As a Christian, I found the book challenging me to go beyond that vague unease by going behind it—i.e., by asking tough questions about what my religious beliefs really say about what non-human animals are and how I should relate to them.

Gross's latest work is a much-needed contribution to scholarship at the intersection of Religious Studies and Animal Studies. Gross expertly weaves in the work of thinkers such as Derrida and Agamben in the course of making his own theoretical and practical contributions. While reflecting on philosophical and ethical questions of "the animal" related to his Jewish heritage and identity (beginning with concerns regarding kosher slaughter practices), Gross also points out the implications of these discussions for animal slaughter in general, as well as for society at large. Gross does a masterful job of demonstrating the importance human imaginations of animals in religious thought, and in thought itself, while also showing that this relationship has largely been ignored.This book strikes a beautiful balance of academic rigor, practical applicability, and accessible, entertaining writing. It should be a part of the library of anyone with interests in animals and human-animal relations, as well as philosophical and religious reflections on these subjects.

Right from the start, Dr. Gross’ smart and engaging style drew me in. Religion is the wellspring of some of our deepest emotional expressions. If we’re to be true to our religious beliefs, we must couple that emotional resonance with rigorous intellectual integrity. In other words, if you are a religious person but have not given serious thought to the way we treat most farm animals today, how it came to be, and what we can do to change the system, I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book. I found it both deeply challenging and surprisingly hopeful.What was also interesting was just how useful this book was for reevaluating my view of human animals too. It turns out that the question of how to relate to and think about animals raised for food is also a powerful lens for exploring our assumptions about what it means to be human.

Really excellent book. As a Religious Studies graduate I thought this would be interesting and it didn't let me down. It's quite academic but still readable.