ABSTRACT
This introduction begins by considering how common sense ideas about animals and religion can make it challenging to understand the many ways that animals and religion go together. It also explains how this volume uses the term “religion,” and describes the primary questions raised in the scholarly subfield of “animals and religion,” including questions about (1) the roles more-than-human animals play in imagining religion, (2) the roles they play inside diverse religious traditions, and (3) related ethical questions. We discuss the interdisciplinary approach the volume takes and reflect upon the significance of how we use words to refer to and name animals before concluding with a description of the volume’s organization into three parts. Part I focuses on questions about religion and identity that allow us to reflect on fundamental issues, such as how we are similar to, different than, or indistinct from other than human animals. Part II considers a broad range of examples of how animals figure in various religious traditions. Part III considers religious responses to animal lives with a special eye toward ethical relevance. The introduction concludes with a list of different religious traditions and the chapters that address each one as a complement to the topical (as opposed to traditions-based) arrangement of the volume as a whole.
