1 In Expectation of What Was: Hope for the Animal Kingdom in the Christian Vision by: Joshua Duffy October

2012

Introduction Is there hope for the animal kingdom in the Christian vision? Have great minds such as St. Augustine so influenced our views in regards to the status of nonhuman creation that there is no other option but to accept what they have presented? Augustine wrote in The City of God that the irrational animals that fly, swim, walk, or creep . . . are dissociated from us by their want of reason, and are therefore by the just appointment of the Creator subjected to us to kill or keep alive for our own uses. 1 Apart from teachings as such, I will argue that there is indeed hope for the animal kingdom in the Christian vision, and that by rediscovering the original intentions God had for creation we can be confident in exploring scriptures about what is to come. Genesis tells of a creation that was perfect, and complete, lacking nothing, existing in peace and harmony with itself and its Creator. But Genesis also tells of a tragic breach between creature and Creator, subjecting all created things to the damaging effects of sin. That tragedy had not the final word on the subject. Gods plan continued as He sent His own son to set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor 1:22 NIV). So we have this expectation, that although God did something monumental, the finalization of this is not yet realized. This is the tension of the Christian life; something has been done, but it is not fully completed. With this in mind, we journey back to Genesis, to see how things were in the beginning, and what went wrong. Then, we shall look at what we should expect when the eschatological kingdom of Jesus is firmly established upon the earth.

PART I. The Past

Saint Augustine, The City of God, trans. Marcus Dods (Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 2009), 24-5.

2 Creation Blessing (Genesis 1:20-25)2 In the early days of the creation narrative after God creates the earth, the heavens, and the lights that govern the sky, living beings are created which are to fill the waters and the sky. When this is completed God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth (v.22). It is significant that God pronounces a blessing on these animals as they are independent from human influence. As far as can be ascertained from the narrative, all that existed regarding animate life were God, the fish, and the birds, yet God confers a blessing unto them. Next, God proceeds to create animals which will live on solid ground (v.24). With this, the animal kingdom seems to be completed. God looks at what has been done and saw that it was good (v.25). Based upon the account given, we see that, apart from any human influence, God created animals upon the earth, saw that their existence was good, and pronounced a blessing upon them. And so they existed, just they and God, for a period no less than twenty-four hours (some would say maybe even millions of years).3

Dominion (Genesis 1:26-31) Next in Gods process was the creation of the imago dei, or the image bearers. This was a special part of creation, one in which the created beings were to be able to reflect the personhood of God in a greater way than those previously. So humankind was formed in Gods image, and they were to have dominion over all that had been previously created (v.26, 28). When talking with Christians about the issue of animal welfare, this dominion has been their trump card, the conversation ender, match point, checkmate. We, as human beings, were given

2 3

All Scripture will be taken from the New Revised Standard Version (1989) unless otherwise noted. John Paul II. 22 October 1996 Address to the Plenary Session on the Subject The Origins and Early Evolution of Life. in Papal Addresses: To the Pontifical Academy of Sciences 1917-2002 and to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences 1994-2002, ed. Marcelo Snchez Sorondo (Vatican City: Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 2003), 370-4.

3 dominion, so other living beings are at our mercy, end of story. As we have seen, this was surely the view taken by a number of influential theologians such as Augustine,4 so who are we to question the scriptural interpretation given by men of such massive intellect? It usually escapes notice that immediately after God gives human beings dominion he also prescribes a vegetarian diet for every living thing upon the earth, and yes, that includes humans. A major problem develops when we establish a theology of treating subordinate creatures in a way which is not how God seems to treat subordinate subjects in light of New Testament revelation. The dominion of God towards humans is always founded on grace and mercy, and hence it is these attributes which should occupy our foremost dealings with other creatures as well. The Hebrew verb (radah) we translate dominion conveys the notion of exercising domain, whether legitimate or not, over those who are powerless or otherwise under one's control.5 The question is not whether we, as human beings, have authority over other created beings but in how we exercise this authority which is of theological concern.6 As Reverend Andrew Linzey has aptly stated, since the God in whose image we are made is holy, loving, and just, then our dominion can only be likewise.7

Sabbath (Genesis 1:31-2:3) God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good (v.31).8 Contrary to what I have heard taught in the majority of sermons on the subject, God does not pronounce the creation of

4 5

Saint Augustine, City of God, 24-5. Spiros Zodhiates, ed., The Complete Word Study Dictionary (Chattanooga: AMG International, Inc., 1993), H7287. e-Sword. 6 See Greg Boyd, The First Fruit of the Coming Non-Violent Creation, Random Reflections - Greg Boyd (blog), February 13, 2008 (8:50 p.m.), http://gregboyd.blogspot.ca/2008/02/first-fruit-of-coming-non-violent.html.
7

Andrew Linzey, Creatures of the Same God: Explorations in Animal Theology (Brooklyn: Lantern Books, 2009), 16. Kindle Edition. 8 Italics not in original.

4 humans as very good, but creation as a whole. The purpose of creation is not humankind but what happens on the seventh day, which is a God at rest, content with a creation existing in harmony and peace.9 This, I believe, is the true sabbath, the perpetual sabbath, which will be reinstated when the coming Kingdom of God is established. This is our eschatological expectation, a creation that reflects Gods original purpose for creation, which is a peaceful and harmonious community free from the corruption of sin.

Fall Alas, this blissful utopia was indeed corrupted. Genesis 3 tells the tragic story of mankinds fall from grace. With this fall we see the estrangement of mankind from their Creator, the earth, and those who inhabit the earth. We readily see the effects of this upon humankind, but we often fail to recognize just how much this has influenced the animal kingdom as well. Nowhere before this is it recorded that human-animal relations were strained, but following Adam and Eves sin, it says that they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves (3:7). And thus, the first Biblical use of an animal for human purposes takes place. The usage continues in Genesis 4 as Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions (v.4). Now animals are being used in ways in which they had never been before the Fall. The point presented regarding the Fall narrative is that now the relations between humans and animals is deeply affected by something in which the animals had no control over. They were innocents, and the rationality bestowed upon humankind by the Creator made the animal kingdom more vulnerable to those who were now extremely susceptible to transgression. The rest of the Old Testament relates mankinds inability to conquer sin and attain the quality of life God had originally intended.

Andrew Linzey and Dan Cohn-Sherbok, After Noah: Animals and the Liberation of Theology (London: Mowbray, 1997), 20-1; see also Ben Witherington III, The Problem with Evangelical Theology: Testing the Exegetical Foundations of Calvinism, Dispensationalism, and Wesleyanism (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2005), 183-4.

PART II. The Future

The good news is that the story continues! There is an eschatological hope in Scripture that creation will return to the way it was, in a sense. The Hebrew prophets, Jesus, and Paul most notably point to this future expectation. And it is with them that we turn to to develop a theology of hope for the animal kingdom in the Christian vision.

The Hebrew Prophets

The prophet Isaiah describes a coming kingdom in which there will be no animosity between members of the animal kingdom, and a gentleness will pervade created beings to such an extent that there will be a return to a non-violent life (Isa. 2:4; 11:6-9). Hosea echoes this sentiment (Hos. 2:18), and Eliphaz (although not a traditional prophet) hints at it as well (Job 5:19-23). Ezekiel speaks of an eschatological river where every living creature that swarms will live (Ezek. 47:9), and where fruit trees of all kinds will line its banks, providing food for inhabitants (Ezek. 47:12). Isaiah speaks of a future where cows will be kept, not to be eaten, but to provide for a vegetarian diet, in a land where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread (Isa. 7:2125). These references speak of a return to an existence free of violence and despotism, where humans do
not dominate Gods creation. It is an existence that the rest of creation must be anxiously longing for.

Jesus (Mark 1:13)10

10

Richard Bauckham, Jesus and Animals II: What Did He Practise?, in Animals on the Agenda: Questions about Animals for Theology and Ethics, ed. Andrew Linzey and Dorothy Yamamoto (Baltimore: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 49-60.

6 To believe that the times in which Jesus lived were not extremely different from ours is to reveal our naivety. One such example of this is in our relationship to wild animals. The Jews would have seen the antipathy between they and the wild animals as a distortion of the created relationship between

humans and animals resulting from human sin.11 Richard Bauckham has developed the idea that
Jesus time spent with the wild animals in the Judean wilderness at the beginning of His ministry was more significantly a theological act, rather than historical, pointing towards a messianic mission. What Jesus did was undo the effects of sin in the area of human-animal relations, giving us a glimpse of how things should actually be. Bauckham comments, Jesus' companionable presence with the wild

animals affirms their independent value for themselves and for God. He does not adopt them into the human world, but lets them be themselves in peace, leaving them their wilderness, affirming them as creatures who share the world with us in the community of God's creation.12

Paul (Romans 8:19-22) The most pertinent theology of Paul in what we are discussing comes in his epistle to the church in Rome. It says, For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now. Humans, as the imago dei, are the children of God that creation is waiting for. It is waiting for us to wake up and realize that we have been living inside a human-centered theology that has posited ourselves at the center and everything else on the periphery. Creation is waiting for us to step back and realize that it should be God in the center, not humans, and that we should act accordingly in light of this.

11 12

Ibid., 56. Ibid., 59.

7 Scripture relates Gods loving concern for all of His created works, not just humans. To list but a few examples: animals are included in the Sabbath rest (Exod. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-15); a home for the sparrow are provided, and a nest for the swallow in Gods dwelling place (Ps. 84:3-4); compassion is on all created life (Ps. 145:9); food is given in its season and the desire of every living thing is satisfied (Ps. 145:15-16); water is provided for the wild animals, and they give back honour (Isa. 43:20 cf. Joel 1:20); God is grieved at the desolation of the wilderness which affects animals (Jer. 9:10); Nineveh is spared in part because of the presence of animals, whom are worthy of concern (Jon. 4:11); God is angered at the bloodshed and violence done to the earth and animals (Hab. 2:17). A nice blanket statement can be found in the Wisdom of Solomon: You love everything that exists; you do not despise anything that you have made. If you had not liked it, you would not have made it in the first place (11:24 GNTA).

Conclusion Though the doctrine of Augustine remains highly influential upon the thought and practice of the Church, we can be thankful that he did not have the last word in regards to animal theology. We have revisited the early chapters of Genesis, seeing how God created animal life and subsequently pronounced a blessing upon it before humans graced the earth. We then looked at the creation of the imago dei and what kind of dominion was afforded them over that animal kingdom. And we witnessed that tragic fall from grace which estranged mankind from their God. From there we looked at some of the theological implications of animals in the eschaton, taking into consideration the Hebrew prophets, the Apostle Paul, and the Son of God Himself. As we look to the future, I can confidently say that there is indeed hope for the animal kingdom in the Christian vision. It begins with taking our eyes off of ourselves and putting them onto where they belong, which is on God. The Holy Spirit has been given for this very purpose, that we would be a representation upon the earth and a reflection of Gods goodness, mercy, and love to that which we have been given dominion over. Our eschatological orthopraxy may be only partial, as we are still living in the

8 days before Christ comes to inaugurate a completed Kingdom, but as much as we are able, in this time, for this purpose, we are to be ambassadors of heaven, proclaiming and demonstrating the will of God on earth as it is in heaven (Mat. 6:10). Compassion is a key to Kingdom living, and we should not restrict this compassion to members solely of our own species. We must view all of creation as having the same source as ourselves, and treat it accordingly. Regardless of our current actions, God is coming, and a Kingdom will be established, and as much as we are able, we are expected to live our lives in light of this. Creation is waiting for the sons of God to reveal ourselves as what we truly are, and that is, sons of God.