“Animals are God's creatures, not human property, nor utilities, nor resources, nor commodities, but precious beings in God's sight. ...Christians whose eyes are fixed on the awfulness of crucifixion are in a special position to understand the awfulness of innocent suffering. The Cross of Christ is God's absolute identification with the weak, the powerless, and the vulnerable, but most of all with unprotected, undefended, innocent suffering.” HumansEyeChristianSufferingChristAnimalSpecialPositionCreaturesResourcesCrossesWeakSightAbsolutesPropertyInnocentVulnerableFixedVegetarianVeganAnimal RightsCommodityPowerlessUtilityIdentificationCrucifixionVegan HealthAwfulness Author:Andrew Linzey
“I look forward to the time when the churches come to celebrate and honour the work of animal protection as an imperative arising from their belief in the Creator and in the gospel of the crucified. After all, similarly remarkable things have happened, for example, the growing consensus among churches that the environment should be cared for and protected as a Christian duty--an astonishing turnaround when one considers the prevailing dualism in previous centuries, which expressly discouraged concern for "earthly" matters as distinct from "spiritual" ones.” ShouldLooksMatterChristianSpiritualBeliefChurchAnimalEnvironmentGrowingHappenedCenturyExampleDutyConcernCreatorProtectionCelebrateRemarkableHonourProtectedConsensusDiscouragedImperativesAstonishingPrevailingDualismTurnaround Author:Andrew Linzey
“Although Christianity has a poor record on animals (as it does, it must be said, on the treatment of slaves, women, children, and gays), it is also the case that Christian theology, when creatively and critically handled, can provide a strong basis for animal rights.” ChildrenDoeSaidChristianStrongAnimalPoorChristianityCasesRecordsRightsGayBasesSlaveTheologyTreatmentAnimal RightsChristian Theology Author:Andrew Linzey
“It took Christians many years to realize that we cannot love God and also keep humans as slaves. It has taken even longer for Christians to realize that we cannot love God and also regard women as second-class humans. Now is the time for Christians to realize that we cannot love God and hate the Creator's nonhuman creatures.” YearsHumansChristianHateRealizingClassTakenCreaturesRegardSlaveCreatorGod Love Book:Animal Gospel Source: Animal Gospel
“If it was really true that predation is God's will, it would have to follow for Christians that the life of Jesus -- what after all is the self-disclosure of God -- manifested and vindicated this predator/prey relationship. Such a gospel would be substantially different from the one we currently have.... Instead of raising Lazarus from the dead, the Predator Jesus could only comment that death is God's blessing. Instead of preaching the good news of the coming kingdom of God, the proclamation would run: "Eat and be eaten.” IfsDifferentSelfWould BeRunningChristianJesusBlessingNewsGods WillKingdomsCommentPreachingGood NewsPreyKingdom Of GodPredatorDisclosureProclamationReally TrueLazarusVindicatedSelf Disclosure Author:Andrew Linzey
“Looking back through the mists of time, I recall some distinctly religious experiences in my teens--when I was only fourteen years old to be precise. These experiences opened my mind to the idea of a Creator and that caring for other living things was a Christian duty. My parents were not strongly religious at the time and when I announced at that youthful age that I wanted to be a priest, it not unnaturally provoked some incredulity, even mirth. In the same year, I became a vegetarian, which--for family and friends--was even more vexing.” YearsMindIdeasAgeWantedChristianParentReligiousDutyCreatorCaringPriestsVegetarianTeensRecallsLooking BackPreciseFamily And FriendsLiving ThingsMistFourteenCaring For OthersMirthProvokedReligious ExperienceIncredulity Author:Andrew Linzey
“Christian theology provides some of the best arguments for respecting animal life and for taking seriously animals as partners with us within God's creation. It may be ironical that this tradition, once thought of as the bastion of human moral exclusivity, should now be seen as the seed-bed for a creative understanding of animal liberation.” ShouldHumansMayChristianUnderstandingAnimalMoralCreativeCreationBedArgumentTraditionSeedsPartnersTheologyLiberationAnimal RightsAnimal LiberationAnimal LifeGod's CreationChristian TheologyExclusivity Book:Christianity and the Rights of Animals Source: Christianity and the Rights of Animals
