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Creatures of the Same God: Explorations in Animal Theology

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This book refines 30-some years of Oxford Professor Andrew Linzey's writings on the proper Christian perspective towards animals. The enormous benefit of this small volume of nine essays over other outstanding works -- such as Matthew Scully's "Dominion" or Robert Wennberg's "God, Humans, and Animals" -- is its ability to present all the essential arguments with brevity. As an evangelical Christian, I felt very comfortable with Prof. Linzey's Biblically-referenced theology. Yet his writing is so fluid and his rationale so logical that all readers will value this work. A couple of his main points: "made in God's image" means humans have the capacity for self-sacrifice and to exercise "dominion" over the weak, defenseless, and vulnerable, just as Christ has demonstrated dominion over His creation. Animals were not created for mankind, but all of creation was created for God's glory; God, not human beings, is the measure of all things. Prof. Linzey, once having established a solid theological basis for human kindness towards animals, goes on to describe the logical ramifications -- a need to change our personal practices and public policies, and for Christ's Church to break its silence on the subject. Linzey's "Why Animal Suffering Matters" is set up better for use in a Bible Study. His compilation with Tom Regan, "Animals and Christianity: A Book of Readings" makes a nice companion volume.

The Title Says It all: Creatures of the same God. The word "creature", meaning in essence, "someone who was created" applies to all of us. We are ALL creatures of the same God, becaue we were all created by the same God.

God is about love. God IS love. And where there is love, things such as murder, cruelty....egotism, and indifference, are not present.

So when those who operate kill 'shelters' murder animals, they are not living God's will.

When those in slaughterhouses, slit the throat of a cow, they are not living God's will.

When those who abuse, abandon or neglect animals, commit their atrocities, they also are not living God's will.

The sole way to live God's will, is to see God in EVERY individual living soul, 2 legged or 4 legged, and to treat them like the fellow Child of God that they are....equally as much as we human animals are.

To do otherwise is to betray God, and all of his beautiful four legged Children, who God loves equally as much as he loves us, His two legged Children.

My thanks to Andrew Linzey, a true Man of God, and a true friend to his Brothers and Sisters in fur.

I was surprised at how informative this book has been.I have been vegetarian for year (because of the terrible treatment of these sentient beings on huge farms). I have read much on animal rights but the actual spirituality of our fellow inhabitants was a new concept and one which opened new highways. I plan to read more on this subject. I also bought an earlier book by the same author and this too was helpful.