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Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 7.1 (2004) 174-190



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The Consumption of Animals and the Catholic Tradition

John Berkman


HISTORICALLY, MOST IF not all Catholics have abstained from eating animal flesh as an expression of their faith. Although most have abstained only for certain periods of time, others have abstained permanently. While Catholics have abstained for a variety of reasons, this essay focuses on distinctively theological reasons Catholics, especially in the early centuries of Catholicism, have chosen to abstain from consuming animal flesh. On the one hand, this essay will show how such abstinence has been an aspect of the spiritual practice of fasting and a response to the capital vice of gluttony. On the other hand, it will show how such abstinence has been predicated on Catholic doctrines concerning creation and nature, the Fall, and eschatology.

The history of Catholic thought on why a person should or should not consume animal flesh is complex, and yet no scholarly history of this subject is readily available. Furthermore, there is no overarching history of more general Christian attitudes toward animals. 1 This may partially account for the fact that most general commentators on the ethics of eating animals treat the Catholic tradition on [End Page 174] this question in a way that is simplistic at best, generally making no attempt to seriously analyze the depth or breadth of, for example, patristic teaching about abstaining from consuming animals as part of Christian askesis ("training"), or considering how such abstinence from animal flesh has been a central part of the Christian practice of fasting.

While relatively little serious overarching analysis has been done with regard to the consumption of animals and the Catholic tradition, at least two things are clear. First, despite what some zealous advocates assert, there is no reason to believe that Catholic (or Orthodox or most Protestant) Christianity has ever been a strictly "vegetarian" faith. 2 Second, contrary to what some recent advocates for animals are prone to proclaim, no even-handed assessment of the Catholic tradition as a whole can baldly assert that Catholicism has been averse to abstaining from animal flesh or that it has been inimical to concern for other animals. 3

It will be impossible to address comprehensively the tradition; thus my treatment of the question will be necessarily selective. Because I will focus on types of reasoning about abstaining from animal flesh, historical contextualization will be limited. Furthermore, it will not be possible to adequately address the large question that runs through the entire tradition as to whether the Catholic ethic is properly seen as perfectionistic (with allowances made for the weak) or as more modest, expecting obedience to fundamental moral principles but considering the more rigorous aspects of the faith as counsels of perfection for those who enter "religious life." 4 I am aware that one could question whether the relatively few sources I draw on from Scripture, from patristic and medieval theologians, and from current magisterial teaching adequately represent the Catholic tradition. My modest goal is to show (even in the limited sources I present) that the Catholic tradition has a significantly more complex and diverse view regarding the consumption of animal flesh than typically is recognized. [End Page 175]

I shall present three kinds of reasoning—medicinal, ascetical, and eschatological—for abstinence from animal flesh. These reasonings are not independent or mutually exclusive. Although all three are interconnected and build on one another, different authors and different periods in the tradition significantly diverge with regard to the emphasis placed on each.

Medicinal abstinence focuses on abstention from animal flesh for the sake of health. However, by "health" one should not think primarily of the contemporary understanding of physical health (e.g., lowering one's intake of cholesterol and saturated fats). For most of the Christian tradition, physical health cannot be neatly separated from spiritual health. Thus, when patristic authors advocate a simple, meatless diet in the interests of health, they have foremost in mind health as a kind of spiritual purity.

Many ancient...

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