The Dominion of Love: Animal Rights According to the Bible [Paperback]

Norm Phelps (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590560094 | ISBN-13: 978-1590560099 | Publication Date: September 1, 2002

Many commentators and users of the Bible have, over the centuries and up to the present day, used the Bible to argue that animals have no rights, that they were put on this earth for our use, and that we have no obligations to them.

In his cogent, honest, and fully researched and referenced work, The Dominion of Love, Norm Phelps attempts to encourage all who revere the Bible as holy scripture to open their hearts to the suffering that we inflict upon our nonhuman neighbors. He shows that the right of animals not to be imprisoned, d, and killed for our benefit flows naturally from the Bible’s message of love and compassion and argues that this is the message of the Bible’s most important passages dealing with our relationship to animals. He further responds to the defenses of animal exploitation that are often made based on the Bible.

Beautifully written, The Dominion of Love is an essential addition to a growing body of literature that argues for a compassionate and non-exploitative reading of Holy Scripture.

"Phelps' book is a of close reading. It is sure to convince even the most conservative Christians that we still have much to learn from the Bible about compassion and stewardship. And animal rights advocates will discover that the Bible has been on the cutting edge of this movement all along." -Steven Webb, author, Good Eating

"After decades of neglect, churches are beginning to take the issue of justice to animals seriously. Many books have influenced this change, and The Dominion of Love is an insightful, judicious and inspiring contribution to this growing library." - The Rev. Dr. Andrew Linzey, Oxford University; author, Animal Theology

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Spiritual Outreach Director of the Fund for Animals in Washington, DC, Phelps here argues that the Bible's messages of love and compassion can be applied to our relationship with animals. He negotiates this very tricky terrain with some skill, and while he concedes that his conclusions rely heavily on the notion of our ethical development since biblical times, his work still ought to satisfy the curiosity of the Christian and environmentally minded reader alike. For most collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Norm Phelps is spiritual outreach director of The Fund for Animals, where he works to encourage faith communities of all traditions to include animals within the scope of their compassionate ministries. He lives in Funkstown, Maryland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Lantern Books (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590560094
• ISBN-13: 978-1590560099
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,122,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Norm Phelps is the former spiritual outreach director of The Fund for Animals, as well as a founding member of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV) and a contributing writer for Satya. His goal is for faith communities of all traditions to include animals within the scope of their compassionate ministries. Norm Phelps is author of The Dominion of Love, The Great Compassion and The Longest Struggle. Norm lives in Funkstown, Maryland with his wife, Patti Rogers, and their family of rescued cats.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sophisticated yet accesible, February 12, 2005

By 

P. Strindlund (Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dominion of Love: Animal Rights According to the Bible (Paperback)

The "according to the Bible" in the subtitle made me fear that this was going to be another boring Bible study, or a pile of Bible quotes, but oh no - the book turned out to be a gem. Theologically sophisticated, yet always accesible, the book argues for ascribing rights to animals -- including the right not to be killed and eaten -- based on the primacy of love, or the dominion of love, which according to the author should be our overriding ethical and theological principle, one that is grounded in the Bible, "God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." (1 Joh 4:16).
I think many readers will be surprised, as I was, by how stong a case the author manages to make for animal rights, basing himself on the Bible.
The author's prose is excellent.
Pelle Strindlund, Sweden

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even as a Hen Gathers Her Chicks Under Her Wings, February 16, 2006

By 

Karen Davis, PhD (Machipongo, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dominion of Love: Animal Rights According to the Bible (Paperback)

The Dominion of Love:
Animal Rights According to the Bible

By Norm Phelps
Lantern Books
www.lanternbooks.com

Review by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns

Is there any basis for animal rights in the Bible? In The Dominion of Love, Norm Phelps, the spiritual outreach director of The Fund for Animals, responds with this question: is there any basis in Hebrew and Christian scripture for human rights? His answer is yes and no. The concept of "human rights" does not actually appear in the Western religious tradition. Human Rights is a product of 18th century Enlightenment philosophy, an idea that to this day is rejected by many governments throughout the world. Rights is an "implementing mechanism," says Phelps, created to enforce the ethical teachings of love and compassion expressed by the Golden Rule-teachings that "individual conscience" has failed to implement. Now in the West, he says, we are living in the early years of an Enlightenment for the Animals. Where does the Bible fit in?

Our culture is imbued with its teachings, everything from an eye for an eye to love your enemies to love your neighbor as yourself. Phelps focuses on the concept of loving your neighbor to urge that we enlarge our understanding of who our neighbor is to include our nonhuman animal brothers and sisters. Even if the Bible does not explicitly include chickens and cows in the ancient notion of one's neighbor, there is enough in the substance of biblical teachings and scattered passages to invite such a reading and the implementation of this reading into our daily lives and protective laws. Does not Matthew 23:37 cite the mother hen as an example of protective love where it says "How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings"?

Does the Bible support animal sacrifice and meateating? Yes in some parts, and with equal relish, here and there, it supports human slavery, rape, ethnic cleansing and other barbarisms we no longer countenance. "When we read in the Bible stories of God commanding or condoning the killing of animals," says Phelps, "we should remember these tales of barbarities that God is accused of ordering against human beings. . . . Why should Biblical verses that show divine approval of animal abuse set an everlasting precedent while passages showing divine approval of the murder of men, women, and children do not?"

Phelps concedes that his approach to the Bible involves picking and choosing-to an extent. But he legitimately argues that he is picking and choosing biblical passages that support the Bible's fundamental ethical call to love God, love Creation, love your Neighbor, and Be Merciful. A stumbling block is what he calls the "aristocracy theory" of creation, the idea that "man" alone is made in the image of God and is thus entitled to "reduce the rest of the earth's population to serfdom."

But even if one nurses an exalted view of humankind, to whom an All Powerful has ironically granted a host of "concessions," it doesn't follow that post-Flood morality need be one's own endpoint on Earth and a license for savagery. Rather, says Phelps, if we love creation, "we will nurture it, comfort it, care for it." The "dominion" he sees as alone hopeful consists in a conscious decision "to love God concretely by protecting and nurturing" all of our neighbors. If Judaism and Christianity do not encourage spiritual growth and a widening of human moral sympathies and obligations beyond the obscurations of history and self-centeredness, including animals "in the fullest unfolding of morality," what good do they bring?

The Dominion of Love includes valuable Appendices that identify specific biblical verses relating to the Human Treatment of Animals arranged under convenient subheadings, and Suggestions for Further Reading. These likewise are subdivided for easy follow-up together with a bibliography and highlight of books of related interest from Lantern Books.


Review by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns (www.upc-online.org)

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally a good book about animal rights and the Bible, August 5, 2005

By 

A. Gullo (LA, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dominion of Love: Animal Rights According to the Bible (Paperback)

This book explained what I had always thought and felt but not heard in the churches or religion class. It explained in solid descriptions that compassion and love are rooted in the the Scriptures - and that is what vegetarians/vegans practice. It created common ground explaining that vegetarianism/veganism is based on teachings in the Bible. It was very easy to read - clear and concise.