Christianity 5.5, Disquietudes: Traditions that Conflict with Teachings
Christian ethics protect anymals, but there is room for improvement in aligning practice with teachings. For example, there is wide acceptance of anymal experimentation and many Christians choose an omnivorous or vegetarian diet despite pervasive, core teachings of kindness and respect for anymals. This portion of the book draws attention to two important disquietudes where anymals are concerned—places where teachings do not align with actions—a lack of humility and a tendency to focus on Christ’s death and resurrection at the expense of Christ’s embodied ministry, which is to say, a focus on the next life at the expense of serving God in this life. (For more on these harms, see the book “Vegan Ethics: AMORE—Five Critical Reasons to Choose Vegan.”)
5.5 Outline (for full topic outline, go to 5.1 “Christianity: Introduction and Outline”)
Overview
Christ’s Embodied Ministry
Historic Perspective
Our Lives Embodied
Humility—A God-Centered Universe
Conclusion
Endnotes
(To view all Christianity topics, visit 5.1 Christianity: Introduction and Outline)
Free ranging, independent Macaque with baby. Macaque with baby, exploited in a breeding facility. (Images courtesy of We Animals Media.)
I. Humility—A God-Centered Universe
Humanism is human-centered; Christianity is God-centered. The universe was not created for human purposes and humanity is not the center of the Christian world (this view is Aristotelian, pre-Christian): God is the center and measure of all. Human arrogance sometimes holds humanity at the center and as the measure of all, exposing humanism and denying core Christian teachings.
Scriptures tell us that the “universe is a work of love” (Linzey and Cohn-Sherbok 13), which ought to prevent humanity from viewing the world as expendable, as a repository of “natural resources” to use for our purposes. In this view, scientific knowledge—even for medicine—is not an acceptable excuse to harm or destroy life; neither habit nor taste preference can legitimately justify factory farming or omnivory, nor can profit determine the “value” of a calf: “Creation is not just a colorful backdrop for human actions” (Scully 304). When we focus on serving God, we become part of “something good, permanent, and infinitely greater than any plan we could ever conceive or any profit we could ever gain” through self-interested humanism (Scully 304).
Many of us seem to have lost all sense of restraint toward animals, an understanding of natural boundaries, a respect for them as beings with needs and wants and a place and purpose of their own. Too often, too casually, we assume that our interests always come first, and if it’s profitable or expedient that is all we need to know. We assume that all these other creatures with whom we share the earth are here for us, and only for us. We assume, in effect, that we are everything and they are nothing. . . .
Kindness to animals is a small yet necessary part of a decent and holy life, essential if only as a check against human arrogance and our tendency to worship ourselves, our own works and appetites and desires instead of our Creator (Matthew Scully, conservative Christian author, Dominion, xi and 99)
Burned in the bushfires of 2020, a young wallaby stands on bandaged feet at Sue Johns’ wildlife rehabilitation in Mallacoota, Australia. (Image courtesy of We Animals Media.)
The substance of human humility is everywhere present in the creation narrative. We are all God’s living creatures, fellow servants of God, created on the 6th day with other land-dwelling creatures. Scriptures teach that all living beings are God’s and that all are fellow servants of God. Scriptures not only teach humility as a critical ethic but also that this virtue is rooted deeply in our bones. (For more on humility and Christianity, see 5.2.I.B.5, “Humility.” For more on humans, anymals, and the creation story, see 5.2.II.A “Creation: Genesis 1 and 2.”)
Humans tend to want to believe that “the earth and all its nonhuman contents exist or are available” for our benefit, that we are “entitled to manipulate the world and its systems” for our own ends (Routley and Routley 56).
An extensive, scholarly examination of Scripture as well as church history, hymnody and other Christian artifacts reveals that mutuality, sameness and interconnectedness between humans and other animals are strong vibrant themes within the faith. Since becoming vegan, a journey that began and crystallized while I attended seminary, I have become increasingly aware of biblical texts and trajectories that decenter humanity and undermine support for dominating other animal persons. (Nekeisha Alayna Alexis, Master of Theological Studies with a focus in theology and ethics, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, “Convincing,” n.p.)
Humility is a central ethic of the Hebrew Bible, an ethic that is strongly reinforced in the creation narrative. But traditional interpretations of the story of creation reinforce human tendencies to exceptionalism and arrogance, overlooking deeper and more pervasive lessons of creaturely humility and commonality of Creation. Human exceptionalism and a human-centered view of the universe is Aristotelian and not Hebrew and runs contrary to Christianity: Only God is separate, distinct, and more lofty than what has been created.
The Genesis creation story teaches that we are all God’s living creatures, fellow servants of God. We were made on the 6th day, along with other land-dwelling creatures, and nowhere does the creation story teach of hierarchy or “othering,” but only of community. The Bible carries a strong ethic of humility and the creation story embeds this virtue in our bones.
Lina Lind Christensen with a rescued hen at Frie Vinger (Free Wings), a vegan sanctuary in Denmark that rescues and re-homes hens from the egg industry. (Image courtesy of We Animals Media.)
Critically, humans are not given dominion over the earth though we are told to subdue the earth. We are only given (vegan) dominion over anymals. What matters about our power to subdue or dominate is that we are to serve and protect creation (with the aid of anymals). Nothing about Genesis indicates that humans are the pinnacle of all that exists. God alone is the creator, the pinnacle, the core, the Life of all life. (For more on our God-given duties, see 5.2.II.3 “Rulership in the Image of God” and 5.2.II.4, “Vegan Dominion.”)
Nor can we claim anything over other living creatures after death: We share both the breath of life and frailty of flesh (kol basar). All living beings perish and return to dust. Ecclesiastes 3 acknowledges humans as living creatures among living creatures with “no advantage”:
I said in my heart with regard to human beings that God is testing them to show that they are but animals. For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. (Ecclesiastes 3:18-21)
(For more on this topic see 5.2.II.7, “Salvation for All.”)
I… sought to comfort my beloved bird, who showed by his whole demeanor that he knew he was dying and was hurt through and through by what he had become. . . . One morning our veterinarian placed him gently on the floor of his office after a final and futile overnight stay. Jules looked up at me from the floor and let out a low groan of “ooooohh” so broken that it pierced me through. I am pierced by it now, remembering the sorrow expressed by this dear sweet creature, “Gentleman Jules,” who loved his life and his hens and was leaving it all behind. (Karen Davis, Ph.D., founder of United Poultry Concerns, “Gentleman Jules,” n.p.)
Gentleman Jules at United Poultry Concerns. (Image courtesy of Karen Davis and United Poultry Concerns.)
The book of Job (Hebrew Bible) further affirms the animality of humanity and the sole sovereignty of God. In this narrative, when Job indicates anymals as lower and lesser, God leads him to recognize that he is their kin. When Job complains, “I am a brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches” (Job 30:29), God does not disagree but instead asks, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding” (Job 38:4). The Creator continues at length (Job 38:25–29):
“Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt,
to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
on the desert, which is empty of human life,
to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground put forth grass?
“Has the rain a father,
or who has begotten the drops of dew?
From whose womb did the ice come forth,
and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?” (Job 38:25–29)
God continues to build on the narrative (Job 39:1-10):
“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you observe the calving of the deer?
Can you number the months that they fulfill,
and do you know the time when they give birth,
when they crouch to give birth to their offspring,
and are delivered of their young? . . .
Who has let the wild ass go free?
Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
to which I have given the steppe for its home,
the salt land for its dwelling place?
It scorns the tumult of the city;
it does not hear the shouts of the driver.
It ranges the mountains as its pasture,
and it searches after every green thing.
Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
Will it spend the night at your crib?
Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes,
or will it harrow the valleys after you?”
Free-ranging guineafowl in Kenya. (Image courtesy of We Animals Media.)
In this last portion, the Creator reminds Job, who seems to have forgotten his rightful place, that many aspects of nature and many anymals have been created intentionally, fully, and rightly outside of and beyond the realms of humanity (further restricting our vegan dominion) (Vischer and Birch 9).
The Creator provides a final and blunt reminder (Job 40:15) that we are creatures among creatures, stating of the hippopotamus, “which I made just as I made you.” Job finally grasps his creatureliness in contrast with God’s divinity and recognizes that he is “brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches” (Job 30:29). Here God states clearly that humans are not divine, but that we are living creatures among living creatures, created and sustained by the Almighty. If we see living creatures as lowly and lesser, so much the worse for humanity.
[He] would stand intently by the sink and watch me do the dishes, he was so curious about my activity. He would get up on the sofa on cold or rainy days, and give the warning cry to me if he saw a hawk fly over. This bird that most people consider stupid would come if I called him by name, just like a dog. I cannot express how many hours of intense joy and love he gave to me. (Kathryn King writing about her companion turkey, Peeper, n.p.)
The falling of rain is greater than the giving of the Law, for the giving of the Law [is] a joy only to Israel, while the falling of rain is a rejoicing for all the world, including the cattle and the wild beasts and the birds. (Rabbi Tanhum b. Hiyya commenting on Midrash Tehillim, acknowledging our place in the universe, Schochet, 146)
Peeper sharing a home with Kathryn King. (Image courtesy of Kathryn King and United Poultry Concerns.)
Summary—Humility
Any version of a human-centered universe is not rooted in Christian scriptures or Christian ethics: Scriptures clearly outline a God-centered universe (Curtin 66). Service to God through creation is important for Christians interested in holding God as “the pinnacle of all our concerns” (Webb 35). Serving God in our daily lives helps to “save theology from the distortions of human pride” (Webb 35). Humility is central to Christian ethics and Christianity more broadly, which is a God-centered faith.
Christianity remains God-centered. Christians can choose to grow the fruits of the Spirit, such as unconditional love, mercy, and justice. Christians can strive to be more Godly, as exemplified by Jesus, to express caring for creation and foster hearts of compassion in our daily lives.
We systematically breed, mutilate, and kill billions upon billions of creatures every year. How vain. How utterly vain. (Sarah Withrow King, MTS, Animals, 31)
II. Christ’s Embodied Ministry
Christ, [whom] Christians are called to emulate, is centrally about acting with love, compassion, and mercy. (Stephen Kaufman, M.D., Guided, 4)
Many Christians focus on Christ’s death and resurrection at the expense of serving God in this life. But the Bible focuses on how to live well in the here and now, how to model our lives on the life of Jesus, expressing mercy and compassion, working for justice, and choosing lives of humble service to God.
Jesus the humble servant, washing feet. (Image courtesy of Jim Sano.)
Choosing to focus exclusively on teachings regarding one’s own personal salvation, to the exclusion of the many other teachings of the New Testament, is narrow to the point of spiritual poverty. History explains why this tendency to focus on personal salvation arose in some ancient Christian communities, and understanding this history can be helpful in expanding the vision of contemporary Christians to include the broader ethics taught in the New Testament.
Historic Perspective
(This subsection is indebted to the work of Samantha Joo, Ph.D.)
To understand why many contemporary Christians focus on life beyond this world at the expense helping to improve the world we live in, it is important to understand a bit of history. Early Christians were a persecuted minority (living both under the non-Christian Roman empire and in communities where most people adhered to well-established, older faiths). Because of this miserable situation, they focused on the anticipated bliss of the apocalypse.
The Apostle Paul was persecuted as a Christian, and an otherworldly focus is evident in his writings, which tend to be apocalyptic: Paul was adamant about faith in Jesus as the only way for Gentiles to reconcile with God; he focused on the end of time, ultimate and eternal salvation, and living in the spirit in the here and now. Paul was persecuted for these teachings, which express hope for finding peace and happiness. The letters of Paul, rich with this otherworldly focus, were canonized in the New Testament.
Stefan Lochner, “Martyrdom of Saint Paul” (1435). (Image courtesy of PX Pixels.)
By the time Christianity became the dominant religion (post-Constantine), this apocalyptic element was firmly established and had been both canonized in scriptures and ritualized in the Eucharist (Holy Communion or Lord’s Supper, from the Greek eucharistia for “thanksgiving”). The Eucharist, “the central act of Christian worship . . . practiced by most Christian churches in some form” (“Eucharist” n.p.), has an other-worldly focus, commemorating the Last Supper, Jesus’ persecution and murder, and the risen Christ overcoming cruelty and injustice through eternal life. In later centuries, Paul’s writings (and the Christian tendency to look beyond the miseries of the present life in order to focus on eternal bliss in the “next world”) resonated with other persecuted peoples. For example, the masses of Europe were poor and oppressed (by the nobility) in the Medieval Period. Pauline Christianity appealed to these beleaguered peasants, who converted to this otherworldly brand of Christianity in large numbers, causing this brand of Christianity to grow and spread quickly.
At the close of the Medieval Period, Martin Luther propagated this Pauline version of Christianity, focusing on the imminent return of the Savior and grace through faith. This form of Christianity focuses on Christ’s death and resurrection, on the next world rather than this world. The focus is on blind and complete faith rather than good deeds, and on ultimate salvation rather than the here and now. Apocalyptic, Pauline, Protestant Christianity is focused on faith, salvation, and living in the spirit rather than good works. Therefore, while Christians with this apocalyptic orientation will notice all that is wrong in the here and now, they will do little or nothing to improve the situation. Their hope rests on salvation through faith in Jesus to the exclusion of the good works in the here and now that Jesus exemplified.
Bottle feeding an ailing piglet rescued from the local dump in Johannesburg, South Africa. She was nurtured back to health at a local sanctuary. (Image courtesy of We Animals Media.)
Our Lives Embodied
[T]he one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)
We all have the duty to do good. (Pope Francis, “Pope,” n.p.)
Scriptures are centrally concerned with day-to-day “life on earth” (Berman 43), and Paul also taught that to be a Christian was to live Christian ethics. He taught the Romans to live according to the religious law by loving one another. His teachings reflected Christ’s embodied ministry, befriending and healing the downtrodden.
In daily life, Christians need to correct any imbalance between good works in this world and looking to the hereafter. There are three key aspects to the properly lived Christian life:
Physical embodiment (through which we are immersed in this world)
Death (understanding the finitude of life here on earth)
Resurrection (faith that how we live our lives in the here and now will bear fruit in the hereafter)
While it is important to remember our finitude and maintain hope for the coming resurrection, it is no less important to model our lives on the life of Jesus, and to serve God through creation. To overlook this gift of God-given responsibility is like nurturing a plant by caring only for flower or fruit while ignoring the stem, leaves, and roots. Scriptures, including the life of Jesus, make clear what Christians are to do in the here and now: We are to help reestablish peace on earth, and strive to be as holy and perfect as is humanly possible.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)
Piia Anttonen with one of many horses she has rescued at Tuulispaa sanctuary. (Image courtesy of We Animals Media.)
Peace on Earth
Peace is central to the original, ideal world. Genesis teaches that God created a vegan world, a world without predation, a world of perfect peace and harmony. Isaiah and Hosea (not sacred for Muslims) indicate that we will return to this perfect peace.
Isaiah 11:6-9
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Hosea 2:18
I will make for you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety.
Job 5:23
…the wild animals shall be at peace with you.
William Strutt, “Peace” (1896). (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)
A dialogue in Job, describing a righteous person, indicates that when one is “at peace with God” there is “a covenant of friendship” between a human being “and the whole creation” (Henry n.p.). The righteous person “shall not fear the wild animals of the earth” and with them, “the wild animals shall be at peace” (Job 5:22-23). To walk with God is to walk peacefully with all of creation, including anymals.
Scriptures also indicate that Christians are to “strive first for the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33), which must necessarily be a kingdom of peace. These passages point to work that needs to be done here on earth, to work that scriptures tell us is expected of human beings. Our embodied life is to be spent serving God, which entails working for peace. Unfortunately, many contemporary Christians dismiss these passages as unrealistic, but with this attitude, most of Christ’s teachings would be dismissed.
God wants to be revealed in the world continually and . . . it is our duty as people of faith to resist all forms of violence so that God may be manifested through our acts of love and kindness, no matter how big or small. (Kyle Sumner at “Testimonies: Christians Speak Up for Animals,”n.p.)
From a Christian perspective, all Creation belongs to God. Mistreating any part of Creation shows disrespect for God. (Stephen Kaufman, M.D., “Why We Must,” n.p.)
Matthew 6:10
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
“The Lord’s Prayer,” one of the most commonly repeated passages of the New Testament, indicates that God’s will (which includes perfect peace as manifest in the original creation and as promised in the Peaceable Kingdom) is to be established on earth with the help of the fruits of faith expressed in good works. The “Our Father” “acknowledges a personal and social obligation” for each Christian to work toward God’s Peaceful Kingdom (Interpreter’s 7:), to participate in our daily lives in the “final triumph of God’s will” (Broadman 8:115).
We are inspired by the Holy Spirit to do our part in creating a world that reflects the peaceful harmony between humans and animals that will be fully realized when Jesus returns to usher in the eternal New Earth (synonymous with heaven), as emphasized in Isaiah 11:6-9, 65:25; Hosea 2:18; and 1 Corinthians 15:24–26. (Statement of theology for the Christian Animal Rights Association, “Organizational Theology,” Christian Animal Rights Association, n.p.)
Our role is to be faithful to our calling, which means doing the best we can to correct injustices, oppose victimization, and assist the afflicted. (Stephen Kaufman, M.D., Guided, 135)
The fulfillment of God’s plan can and will happen through the “work of all who believe in Jesus Christ and his kingdom” (Interpreter’s Bible 5:250–51). Faith that the fruits of our labors will be born in the next life is important, but it is no less important to work for God while we are here on earth, fulfilling the expectations laid out in scriptures and exemplified by Jesus.
Relaxing in the safety of sanctuary. (Image courtesy of We Animals Media.)
(For more on peace and Christianity, see 5.3.I.B.4 “Peace”).
Holiness and Excellence in this Life
Matthew 55:48
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Leviticus 19:10
You shall be holy, for I, the Lord, thy God, am holy.
Christians are expected to strive diligently for spiritual excellence in this life and on this planet, which involves living a God-centered life, a life consistent with the expectations of scriptures and the teachings of Jesus. Genesis 2 tells us that we are to serve and protect all that has been created. (See 5.3.II.A.6, “Duties Assigned by God.”) Jesus modeled love, healing, compassion, sharing, seeking justice, and giving hope in this world. Christianity requires human beings to mold their lives around the expectations of the Christian faith, which requires humanity to work for peace and compassion here and now.
Christ transforms “human character and will ultimately change the whole creation” (Guthrie 598). Through faith, working with God, allowing the Creator to transform who we are and how we live, we can model our lives on the life of Christ and work in this world for peace and justice. Human beings are expected to be the work of change, thereby inviting others to a life of generous loving and sharing that extends to the whole of creation.
Jesus did not teach an otherworldly religion; he did not tell his followers to accept the injustices of this world and piously look forward to an afterlife in which goodness and justice would rule. To the contrary, he told his followers that they were to behave in such a way that life on earth would be a reflection of the goodness of the heavenly kingdom. (J. R. Hyland, Master of Theology, ordained minister with Assembly of God, 85)
Summary
Early on, when many Christians were persecuted, followers of Christ focused their attention on hope for the next world, which was canonized in the writings of Paul. This has led many Christians to focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus while overlooking his embodied ministry, preventing Christians from serving and protecting creation on behalf of the Creator (as outlined in scriptures, including the works of Paul, and as exemplified by Jesus) and making life on Earth “as it is in heaven.”
Many churches include food for companion animals in their food pantry programs. Others take special care to protect and provide for wildlife who wish to make a home on church grounds. Christian college students take internships at animal welfare organizations and ask their campus dining halls to provide vegan . . . food options. Some pastors publicly support legislation that promotes better animal welfare, preside over pet funerals, or preach on topics that include concern for animals. Church animal welfare groups hold film screenings, book discussions, and small group studies to promote dialogue about Christianity and animal welfare in their congregations. There are many ways to care for animals, and Jesus followers are often moved to do so not in spite of their faith, but because of it. (Sarah Withrow King, MTS, “What Does,” n.p.)
Geese in sanctuary, safe from exploitation. (Image courtesy of We Animals Media.)
Conclusion
A lack of humility creates a disquietude in the Christian tradition. Human beings have tended to seek out places in scriptures that might support a view of the universe in which they are entitled to dominate and exploit to their advantage. Traditionally, the creation story of Genesis 1 and 2 has been interpreted in such a way as to support human exceptionalism, bolstering the human tendency toward arrogance. But scriptures teach that only God is separate and distinct while human beings are but living creatures among living creatures, servants of God (alongside jackals and ostriches). Though made in God’s image and given dominion over other creatures, human dominion is vegan and our God-given task is to “image” God (according to descriptions of God in Genesis), which requires compassion, mercy, and attentive care for anymals. Our duty is to humbly serve God by tending and protecting all that has been made, all that is God’s. Christianity is not a human-centered religion. Christianity is a God-centered religion.
When Christians were a persecuted minority, they adopted an otherworldly outlook, creating a second disquietude. Scriptures remind that God created a world of peace, instructed humans to tend and protect all that had been created, and promised a return to a Peaceable Kingdom with the help of the faithful. Moreover, Christians are to live by the example and teachings of Jesus, who is described in the Gospels as working courageously and tirelessly on behalf of justice, peace, compassion, and love in this world.
Featured Sources
Kemmerer, Lisa. Animals and Christianity. (KDP, 2022. http://lisakemmerer.com/publications.html.)
---. Vegan Ethics: AMORE—Five Reasons to Choose Vegan. (KDP, 2022. http://lisakemmerer.com/publications.html.)