Call for Papers

Other-than-human beings pervade the Bible. Despite this, they have often been overlooked in biblical scholarship, written off as background or as symbols for human concerns. This conference offers a corrective to this oversight. 

In recent decades, the interdisciplinary field of animal studies has made considerable advances, drawing on the work of influential ethologists, philosophers, cultural theorists, and literary critics (e.g., C. Adams, G. Agamben, B. Boisseron, J. Coetzee, G. Deleuze, J. Derrida, J. Goodall, D. Haraway, Z. I. Jackson, C. Kim, E. Levinas, and F. de Waal). Equally, concern about nonhuman animals is increasing in contemporary society, due to the destruction of biodiversity, threats of extinction, and rise of industrialised animal agriculture. These concerns have begun to enter biblical studies, with a flurry of recent publications in this area. 

Nonhuman animals are implicated in many subfields within biblical studies, particularly as the categories of “human” and “animal” are recognised as constructed, and the power dynamic between them is problematised. The perspectives of feminist, queer, disabled, and decolonial scholars are invaluable, as the lives of animals and minoritized humans are entangled, and the latter are frequently depicted as the former. Ecological hermeneutics has already begun to deconstruct the anthropocentrism of biblical scholarship, and has much to say about nonhuman fauna within broader creation. Zooarchaeological discoveries can help reconstruct the reality of animal lives in the Levant. More broadly, historical and literary scholars must engage with the nonhuman animals in their texts. 

Building on the initial Humanimal conference in Spring of 2023, this Humanimal 2.0 conference continues a conversation about “animal” others in biblical texts, Second Temple literature, and the Bible’s reception. It welcomes participants of all backgrounds, and particularly encourages participation from students as well as scholars from underrepresented social locations and the majority world.

We welcome proposals in response to two calls:

(1) We welcome proposals for papers of maximum 15 minutes about nonhuman animals in the Bible and the Bible’s reception. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • The relationships and distinctions between humans, nonhuman animals and G/god(s);

  • The philosophical implications of human animality and the construction of the category “human”;

  • The way that depictions of nonhuman animals relate to depictions and diverse treatments of humans (especially humans minoritized by e.g. race, gender, or disability);

  • Nonhuman animals within ecological hermeneutics;

  • The lives of nonhuman animals in the biblical world;

  • Animal ethics in the Bible and the Bible in animal ethics; 

  • Biblical animals in light of contemporary extinctions;

  • Animals in sacrifice, ritual, and religion;

  • Nonhuman animal symbolism in the Bible;

  • The distinctions between animal, plant, and non-organic entities.

(2) Pitch a theorist! We welcome proposals for 5-minute pitches about the potential of a theorist or perspective and its potential significance to biblical animal studies.

Researchers working on the Bible and animal studies have tended to draw upon a few key theorists, such as Matthew Calarco, Jacques Derrida, and Donna Haraway. But there are many others, including indigenous and non-Western thinkers, whose voices have not yet been heard, or not yet heard sufficiently, but whose work could be influential and fruitful for our field. At the conference, we will run a panel in which each presenter gives a 5 minute explanation of the benefits that could be gained from incorporating their insights into biblical studies.