From: altar@beaufort.sfu.ca (Ted Wayn Altar)
Subject: Re: Trivia : What is the Christian argument for vegetarianism ?
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 16:40:48 GMT

tinamou@ferris.cray.com (Doug Nicholson) writes:

>I have seen this statement made many times but I have never seen the
>argument developed, book, chapter, and verse!

I don't know how much chapter and verse you want, but here
are some points favouring an interpretation that Christ
might well have been a practicing ethical vegetarian.
I've posted this before, so you might have already seen
this postings.

                                           ted


Was Christ a Vegetarian?  The following points mainly draws upon
Keith Akers' "A VEGETARIAN SOURCEBOOK"  1989, which again I
highly recommend.  Another source for this question is Lewis
Regenstein's "REPLENISH THE EARTH: THE HISTORY OF ORGANIZED
RELIGION'S TREATMENT OF ANIMALS AND NATURE--INCLUDING THE BIBLE'S
MESSAGE OF CONSERVATION AND KINDNESS TOWARD ANIMALS", 1991.  I
have no investment in this issue one way or the other, so I am
simply presenting some information that I've read in two books I
respect for their scholarship.


1.  "I REQUIRE MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE"  (Matthew 9:13 & 12:7):

  This is a significant message when we remember that in the
context in which this was said meat eating was commonly
considered part of these sacrifices.  Sacrificial offerings often
entailed meat consumption and a strict reading of Leviticus 17:
implies that, indeed, all meat consumption necessitated a
sacrifice.  Also, the noted confrontation of Jesus in the Temple
suggests that he was not at all pleased by the desecration of the
Temple by the money changers AND by "those who were selling oxen
and sheep and pigeons" (2:14-15) since these animals were being
sold for sacrifice and latter to be eaten.


2.  No unequivocal Biblical reference to Christ eating or buying
eat:

Consider the verse where it is said that Jesus' disciples "were
gone away unto the city to buy meat" (John 4:8).  This
translation from the King James version has been misunderstood as
meaning literally "meat".   In fact, the Greek word for "meat"
from which the James translation based its choice for this word,
simply meant nutrition in the generic sense.  Hence, the Revised
Standard Version now simply translates this same passage as "his
disciples had gone away into the city to buy food".

Regenstein notes that nowhere in the New Testament is Jesus
depicted as eating meat and "if the Last Supper was a Passover
meal -- as many believe -- there is, interestingly, no mention of
the traditional lamb dish".


3.  Did Christ eat at least eat fish? (e.g., Luke 24:43):

  Note that on the two occasions where he is said to have eaten
fish, these were after his death and resurrection.  Also, we
should maybe keep in mind that fish was a well known mystical
symbol among these early Christians.  The Greek word for fish
(Ichthys) was used as an acronym whose initials in Greek stood
for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior".  Given how the early
Christian employed the term, there is therefore good historical
evidence for the argument that all of the "fish stories" that
managed to get into the gospels were intended to be taken
symbolically rather than literally.


4.  Biblical breaks and contradictions:

  We should not forget that the Bible is not complete and its
many inconsistencies require thoughtful interpretation.  For
instance, we have the contradiction between Genesis 1:29-30 with
Genesis 9:2-3.  Some scholars interpret the first prescription
for vegetarianism as the preferred diet, and suggest that it was
only after God became grievously disappointed with human sin and
flooded the earth did the second provision become permitted, and
not without qualification (and maybe only as an expedient for the
situation).  To take another example, the New Testament makes
repeated attacks on meat offered to pagan idols (Acts 15:20;
Revelation 2:14), but Paul gives assurances that eating such
flesh is all right if no one is offended (Corinthians 10:14-33).
Paul, then, would seem to be contradicting Christ.


5.  Examples of Early Christians:

  Not a few Christian scholars have concluded vegetarianism to be
the more consistent ethic with respect to the spirit of Christ's
teachings.  For example, we have the Ebionites, Athanasius, and
Arius.  Of the early church fathers we have Clement of
Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, Heronymus, Boniface, St. Jerome,
and John Chrysostom.  Clement wrote, "It is far better to be
happy than to have your bodies act as graveyards for animals.
Accordingly, the apostle Matthew partook of seeds, nuts and
vegetables, without flesh".  One of the earliest Christian
documents is the "Clementine Homiles", a second-century work
purportedly based on the teachings of St. Peter.  Homily XII
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 a man becomes a fellow eater
with devils".   Many of the monasteries both in ancient times to
the present practiced vegetarianism.  For instance, Basilius the
Great's order, Boniface's order, Trappists monks, etc.  Also, we
have the examples provided by the stories around some saints like
Hubertus, Aegidius and Francis of Assisi.


6.  Indirect historical evidence:

  Knowledge about how the Essenes, the Nazoreans and Ebionites
lived suggests that Christ was probably a vegetarian.  The
Essences were Jews who were remarkably similar to the early
Christians as evinced in their deemphasis upon property and
wealth, their communalism and in their rejection of animal
sacrifices.  The first Christians were known as the Nazoreans
(not to be confused with Nazarenes) and the Ebionites were a
direct offshoot from them.  All three groups were vegetarian
which is suggestive of the central role such a practice once
played in Early Christianity.  Paul's need to constantly deal
with these vegetarians is also evidence of how prevalent they
were and not a few fellow Christians, it would seem, took issue
with Paul.  Paul, if he is consistent with his words, would have
been vegetarian (Corinthians 8:13), notwithstanding his
opposition to the Ebionites.  According to Clement of Alexandria,
Matthew was a vegetarian.  Clementine Homiles and Recognitions
claim that Peter was also a vegetarian.  Both Hegisuppus and
Augustin testify that the first head of the church in Jerusalem
after the death of Christ, namely Christ's brother JAMES THE
JUST, was a vegetarian and raised as one!  If Jesus's parents
raised James as vegetarian then it would likely that Jesus was
also so raised.

Given the above points, it is reasonable to believe that
vegetarianism would be consistent with, if not mandated by, the
spirit of early Christianity, a spirit that advocated kindness,
mercy, non-violence and showed disdain towards wealth and
extravagance.  Meat eating would hardly have been considered the
way of the humility, non-extravagance and love for all of God's
creation.  Hence, the orthodox early church father, Christian
Hieronymous, could not but be compelled to conclude:

     "the eating of animal meat was unknown up to the big flood,
     but since the flood they have pushed the strings and
     stinking juices of animal meat into our mouths, just as they
     threw quails in front of the grumbling sensual people in the
     desert.  Jesus Christ, who appeared when the time had been
     fulfilled, has again joined the end with the beginning, so
     that it is no longer allowed for us to eat animal meat"
     
Anyway, there is a case to be made for the possiblity
or likihood that Christ was a vegetarian.

                              ted

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