February
1996
The
Lord God Made Them All
Book Review by Martin Rowe
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Christianity and the Rights of Animals by Andrew Linzey,
1987 Crossroad: New York $12.95 paperback
Animal Theology by Andrew Linzey, 1995 University of
Indiana Press: Urbana $14.95 paperback
Louis Gedo’s illustration, which adorns the front cover of this
edition of Satya, is a powerful symbolic portrayal of what the death
of Jesus on the cross can mean for an animal-and eco-centered Christianity.
The symbol of the tree of death upon which Jesus dies is converted into
the tree of life when Jesus as the Messiah cheats death by his resurrection.
In this way, the dead tree of the cross becomes the live tree of life
in the Garden of Eden, returning all creation to its original state.
That Christians celebrate Easter at the Spring time of the year is no
accident: as well as the Tree of Life, it is a recognition of the regeneration
expressed in trees and all nature.
Another of the great symbols of Christ crucified is that of the sacrificial
lamb of God. Jesus in this way becomes the Passover (seder) Lamb —
which commemorates the blood of the lamb daubed on the doorways of the
captive children of Israel when the Angel of Death flew over the land
of Egypt. The lamb is a symbol of freedom, because the death of Egypt’s
first-born finally convinced Pharaoh to let Israel go, and thus begin
the great trek to the land "flowing with milk and honey."
Louis Gedo’s picture is also a symbol of freedom, and of the long
march to peace. Here the Lamb of God is released from slaughter to dance
around a tree of life which offers life to all creatures. Just as the
death of Jesus ends all animal sacrifices, so should we do what we can
to end the death of all God’s creatures. This is clearly the message
of Jesus’ vegetarian seder and his death on the Cross.
As Andrew Linzey notes, the power and clarity of this message of peace
has, however, been lost to much of Christianity. In spite of the fact
that the Gospel of John makes it clear that God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, Christianity has been reluctant to countenance
that Christ could have been sent to anyone but humankind. Christian
theology has throughout the centuries followed Aristotle’s shaky
syllogism: since all nature has a purpose, and animals must have a purpose,
then nature’s purpose for animals is for the sake of man. The
result, in Christianity, has been a centralizing of the relationship
between man (for the Greeks and subsequently, women and slaves were
lesser beings) and his God. Christ, therefore, has no liberating effect
on animals — it is to human beings alone that he offers salvation.
For several years, Andrew Linzey has been showing how, through the scholastic
theologian Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle’s vision has perverted the
message manifest in Genesis and in Jesus. As is clear from the moment
when Adam (the human being adam made from humus adamah) is born from
the ground on the same day as the land animals, Adam is a keeper of
the status quo of paradise. The Human is a gardener, not a slaughterer;
a vegetarian not a carnivore; the Human’s license to name animals
and to safeguard the sanctuary is an exercise in responsible stewardship
not (to disagree with Calvin and Luther) indiscriminate tyranny. Fundamentally,
argues Linzey, both humankind and animals are designed by God; and it
is to God whom all of us, human and non-human, owe allegiance. In some
ways, the rest of the Bible follows the attempt to show how a return
to Eden is possible — through the establishment of the peaceable
kingdom of Israel, the visions of peace between all creation laid down
by the prophets, and in the Gospels, the creation of peace on earth.
Because animals are, like humans, creatures of God, they are similarly
blessed by God. As all creation suffers from the Fall, so Christ renews
all creation when he dies upon the cross. Extending this concept outwards,
Linzey argues that animals possess what he terms theos-rights (from
the Greek word for God). Theos-rights start from the basic belief that
animals are spirit-filled, breathing creatures — filled, like
humans, with God’s breath. After the flood, God makes a covenant
with "every living creature of all flesh" [Gen.: 9:15] and
not just Noah and his family. Thus, we should not see animals as our
instruments but as God’s to do with as God wishes; indeed, since
God did not have to create anything, that God did is an act of grace.
We should see animals as part of God’s creation, as gracious blessings.
If we are to take their lives — and this is something the ancient
Israelites understood — we should recognize we are returning to
God what was freely given by God. It is by all estimations an awe-inspiring
responsibility, something not lightly to be done, but with the recognition
from a Christian perspective that all animal sacrifices have been ended
by the supreme sacrifice of God. Clearly, then, this mindset —
which is fundamentally Biblical — does not countenance the kind
of unnecessary torture, suffering, injury, or distress so commonly inflicted
upon the animal world.
It is impossible to do justice to the richness of Linzey’s theological
thinking in Christianity and the Rights of Animals. Animal Theology
is not so systematic a study, concentrating as it does on different
facets of our relationship with animals (such as with hunting or vivisection)
and perhaps suffering from the need Linzey may justifiably have to repeat
the basic tenets of an animal-centered Christology. Yet it does, along
with Christianity and the Rights of Animals, contain sharp insights
into ethical positions.
For those seeking further analyses on Christianity and animals, I recommend
Good News for Animals? Christian Approaches to Animal Well-Being edited
by Charles Pinches and Jay B. McDaniel, Orbis Books: Maryknoll 1993,
$18.95 paperback; and With Roots & Wings by Jay McDaniel Orbis Books:
Maryknoll 1995, $14.95 paperback.
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