Taming the Beast: Human-Animal Encounters in the Bible - Hardcover

by Yossi Feintuch (Author)

Discover a compelling exploration of humanity's role as the Bible's supreme predator--the only species God describes as "prone to evil from youth" and notably not as "the Crown of Creation." Yet humans continue--today as in biblical times--to project their own unparalleled capacity for violence onto predatory animals.



Taming the Beast illustrates how the Bible seeks to restrain and redirect these human destructive tendencies, even as it highlights the collateral suffering that biblical animals endure because of human corruption. At the same time, the book uncovers the Bible's view of a fundamental kinship between humans and animals, showing how animal motherhood mirrors human experience and how animals often serve as moral and spiritual role models. It also examines humanity's irrational fear of wild animals and probes God's controversial post-flood permission to eat meat, despite the Bible's broader discouragement of making meat a dietary staple.



With innovative perspectives and fresh interpretations, Taming the Beast invites readers to reconsider iconic and biblical stories through a new lens to gain a deeper understanding of the Bible's animal world. Isaiah's daring vision of restored human-animal harmony--present from creation through the flood--provides a powerful and hopeful finale.

Author Biography

Yossi Feintuch was ordained a "Rabbi" by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1994; in 2019, he received from this institution the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa. During his Rabbinic career Rabbi Feintuch has served congregations on the island of Curacao, in Columbia, Mo, in Bend, Or, and in Yuma, Az.



He received academic degrees from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (B.A. in International Relations and History), New York University (M.A. in History), and Emory University (Ph.D. in U.S. History). Dr. Feintuch is also the author of U.S. Policy on Jerusalem (Greenwood Press) and of numerous articles on biblical themes in various print and digital publications. He presently blogs here: Yossi Feintuch, at The Blogs (https: //blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/yossi-feintuch/).



Rabbi Feintuch taught in several academic institutions, including Ben-Gurion University (Beersheba, Israel), and the University of Missouri (Columbia, MO).