Taming the Beast

Human–Animal Encounters in the Bible

Yossi Feintuch

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9798385243983
  9798385243990
• eBook ISBN:
  9798385244003
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

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.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Abbreviations
• Preface
• Chapter 1: From Cosmic Dust to Us
• Chapter 2: The Making of Humanity:An Ordinary Day in Creation
• Chapter 3: Animal Lives Matter
• Chapter 4: Same Food for Humans and Animals
• Chapter 5: What Wrong Did the Snake Do?
• Chapter 6: “Garments of Skin”: Not Made of Skin but for the Skin
• Chapter 7: Did Abel Slay Livestock for His Sacrifice?
• Chapter 8: The Flood Is Coming
• Chapter 9: Who Eats First on Noah’s Ark?
• Chapter 10: Noah’s Altar: An Eternal Tragedy
• Chapter 11: What Is Wrong with Animal Sacrifices?
• Chapter 12: Animals Become Food
• Chapter 13: Dying for Meat
• Chapter 14: Taming Meat Eaters
• Chapter 15: Traversing the Sinai Desert Without Meat
• Chapter 16: Slippery Slope: From Sacrifice to Hunting
• Chapter 17: The Fear of Animals
• Chapter 18: Rebecca and Who Gets to Eat or Drink First
• Chapter 19: The Primacy of Plant-Based Food
• Chapter 20: Predatory Animals Fear Humans
• Chapter 21: Is the Lion as Powerful as One Thinks It Is?
• Chapter 22: Whom Did You Call “an Ass”?
• Chapter 23: A Snake for a Blessing!
• Chapter 24: Who Is Afraid of a Bull?
• Chapter 25: The Big Bad Wolf: True or False?
• Chapter 26: Up, Down, Up: The Vicissitudes of the Dog’s Image
• Chapter 27: Mind! The Mother and Her Child
• Chapter 28: What Can Animals Teach Us?
• Chapter 29: Animals in the Service of God
• Chapter 30: Lethal Animals: Only When Commanded by God
• Chapter 31: Isaiah’s Vision: Back to the Future
• Bibliography