Prayers for Animals [Paperback]

Carol J. Adams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2004

People often feel deep emotions in response to the lives of animals. Learning of one animal’s suffering or many animals’ suffering may touch us very deeply. Sometimes, we do not want to be that deeply touched since we know how much it hurts to care about another’s suffering. Praying for animals allows us to unburden ourselves of these feelings by sharing them. In opening ourselves, we are kept open to the lives of others. Prayer connects us with God and all of Creation. Through prayer, we are made one with all of God’s creatures. Arranged across the arc of the day, this book includes original prayers by Carol J. Adams: n Morning Prayers and Prayers of Adoration n For Our Relationships with Creatures and the Creator n For Our Special Friendships n Prayers of Mourning and Grief n Prayers of Petition and Intercession n Evening Prayers Here are prayers for parents of children who have lost special animal friends, prayers for farmed animals or animals imprisoned in laboratories, for the hunted and endangered, for the well being of all animal caretakers, for animals in shelters: May you know the touch of kindness. May you know a warm blanket, a special treat. May you know a walk outside. May you know another day.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Excellent, helpful, comforting paperback book. Carol Adams’ Prayer for Animals has a way of reaching into our hearts and souls and putting into words those inner emotional feelings that often find hard to express in our times of need. Rarely do we come across a book that strikes a chord deep down in our souls, as this precious volume does. It is hard to put into words how much Carol Adams’ personal, heartfelt reaching out to our creator comforts. We highly recommend this outstanding much needed contribution of Carol Adams.” –Mary T. & Frank L. Hoffman, All-Creatures.org, 2004 (Mary T. & Frank L. Hoffman )

“Here is a wonderful devotional paperback for all those who love and care for animals.…thoughtful and sensitive.…a perfect gift for family and friends.” –www.SpiritualityHealth.com, December 3, 2004

“The prayers are direct and sincere, yet still poetic in their rhythm and structure.” –Altar Magazine, Winter 2004 (website)

“Excellent, helpful, comforting paperback book. Carol Adams’ Prayer for Animals has a way of reaching into our hearts and souls and putting into words those inner emotional feelings that often find hard to express in our times of need. Rarely do we come across a book that strikes a chord deep down in our souls, as this precious volume does. It is hard to put into words how much Carol Adams’ personal, heartfelt reaching out to our creator comforts. We highly recommend this outstanding much needed contribution of Carol Adams.” –Mary T. & Frank L. Hoffman, All-Creatures.org, 2004 (, )

About the Author

Carol J. Adams is an activist and author of The Pornography of Meat, Living Among Meat Eaters, and many other books challenging a sexist, meat-eating world. She is a sought-after speaker throughout North America and Europe, and has been invited to more than 100 campuses to show "The Sexual Politics of Meat Slide Show," which is always being updated to include contemporary cultural representations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (July 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826416519
• ISBN-13: 978-0826416513
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,003,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm the author of The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory. It's been called "ground-breaking" and "pioneering" (interesting how our description of books draws from our invasive relationship to the land). Many say it is an underground classic, which I guess means that lots of people know and love it, but it goes unnoticed by the dominant media. Of course, when it first came out, that was slightly different. Then, right-wing reviewers held it up as the latest example of academic excess and political correctness, which was funny to me, because I am not an academic. I used to teach a course I developed at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University on "Sexual and Domestic Violence: Theological and Pastoral Issues" -- but very infrequently. Basically, for as long as I have been an adult, I have been an advocate, an activist, someone trying to figure out how do we transform this d*#! world that is built on inequality.

I have published more than 100 articles in journals, books, and magazines on the issues of vegetarianism and veganism, animal advocacy, domestic violence and sexual abuse. I am particularly interested in the interconnections among forms of violence against human and nonhuman animals, writing, for instance, about why woman-batterers harm animals and the implications of this (it's in my book Animals and Women). Besides advancing scholarship and developing theory in the area of interlocking oppressions, I have created a series of books that address the vegetarian/vegan experience: Living Among Meat Eaters: The Vegetarian Survival Guide, Help! My Child Stopped Eating Meat! and The Inner Art of Vegetarianism.

I've worked to bring back into print Howard Williams's nineteenth-century classic text on vegetarianism, The Ethics of Diet. I have contributed prefaces to important vegetarian, vegan, and animal defense books and discovered an eighteenth-century vegetarian work that had never entered the vegetarian tradition.

Because I am so deeply moved by my relationship with animals, I have authored books of prayers for animals for both adults and children.

I am excited that the 20th anniversary edition of The Sexual Politics of Meat will be published next February.

I also write about literary topics, including two "Bedside" books: one on Frankenstein and one on Jane Austen. I am finishing a memoir on caregiving and reading.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Anyone Who Loves Animals, February 10, 2009

By 

R. L. Tarantolo (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Prayers for Animals (Paperback)

Anyone who has worked actively to help animals or anyone that simply loves them, will find this very helpful. When you are frustrated at how the world treats the innocents who can not help themselves, this will soothe your soul. It will comfort you to know that there are others like you out there and you are not alone in your deep feelings for all sentient beings. The prayers are moving and written from the heart. If you have ever prayed for an animal, you will appreciate this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sincere, spoken prayers for living beings everywhere, April 1, 2009

By 

K. Love "All Creatures' Comforts" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prayers for Animals (Paperback)

Adams takes her prayers for animals very seriously - much to our benefit. The book is simply written, divided into useful categories, and the prayers aim to reach all animal beings everwhere, especially the ones we don't see, the ones we try not to think about too often, the ones we use to our benefit: laboratory animals, animals destined not just for slaughter but also for the suffering that slaughterhouses harbor; there's even a prayer that animals may be kept safe and far away from roads, from cars, tractors and machines.

There are prayers for animals with legs and without, for birds, for sea creatures - I think that the author has really tried to include all of the wonder of God's creation in these prayers. We human creatures also feature in these prayers - one of my most favourite prayers is addressed to homeless creatures, including homeless human beings, and praying that they are taken care of in the harsh months of winter. Parts of prayers are also addressed to people who act on behalf of the welfare of animal beings.

There are, of course, prayers for the animal companions in our lives who most often in our relationships with them, reveal our own humanity to us just by being themselves.

This was a very touching book, and though it brings tears to my eyes to pray in such ways for the silent, innocent and invisible creatures of our world, as the previous reviewer mentioned, it is a great and true comfort to know that there are people like Carol J. Adams (and other folks who love her prayers) alive today. With the power of prayer, the clear-mindedness, courage and conviction that comes with prayer, we, all together may be able to make ourselves more worthy to live in this world that was meant for all manner of the Almighty's creation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Animal Prayers, February 10, 2008

By 

Earl S. Mead (Canon City, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Prayers for Animals (Paperback)

The book was what I expected and was very helpful to me in a streesful period after the loss of a pet.