A NEW CREATION FOR THE ANIMALS, 
OR, DO ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN?

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

The calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. . . .

They will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain;

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

                                                                  ~ Isaiah 11:6, 9

            Before my forced blogging hiatus as a result of a broken wrist, I was blogging my way through David Clough’s On Animals, Volume 1: Systematic Theology.  Although it has been some time since my last post on the topic, there is but one chapter left and I think it is time to let the last shoe drop.  As you know if you read those previous posts, I cannot recommend this book highly enough; it provides a very thoughtful and wide-ranging discussion of the place of animals – and humans – in Christian theology, considering our modern understanding of animal nature together with a careful reading of scripture and Christian tradition.  For Clough, taking animal welfare seriously is simply a matter of living in accordance with what Christians have always believed.  I am especially grateful for Clough’s emphasis on animal welfare as “a vital theological task,” which touches on nearly every element of what it means to be a Christian, and for the way he consistently urges us to look at and understand animals in new ways, asking us to appreciate their complexity, their individuality, and their place in the world.  Previous posts in this series are A Vital Theological Task, All Creatures of Our God and King, On Humans and Other Animals, The Heart of the Matter, and Do Animals Sin?  There is also a discussion with the author himself, Q&A With David Clough.  This post will look at Part III of Clough’s book, asking whether animals will be redeemed together with humans.

POPE FRANCIS AND THE ANIMALS

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us . . .”

                     ~ John 1:14

“Man and beast thou savest, O Lord.”

                        ~ Psalm 36:6b

            There has been a great deal of press coverage about Pope Francis and a statement he was reported to have made to console a young boy who had lost a pet.  “Paradise is open to all God’s creatures.”  The statement immediately filled the internet with all manner of people weighing in on what this might mean for Christians.  I posted a link to this story about the statement on the Dominion In The Image Of God Facebook page.  It got quite a number of views.  Then it turned out he didn’t say that after all (although Pope Paul VI apparently did).[1]  According to the Regions News Service, what he really said, citing the Apostle Paul in a discussion of the End Times, was that the new creation was not the annihilation of all that is, “but the bringing of all things into the fullness of being.”  The New York Times’ corrected story quotes him as saying, “Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us.”  The Religion News Service has a very helpful story about how the Pope’s statement became transformed through interpretation and errors in reporting. 

            Whatever the Pope’s actual words, the story got a lot of people talking about whether we will, indeed, see our pets and other animals in heaven.  

St. Blaise with animals

MINORITY REPORT – PART TWO: 

JOHN WESLEY AND HUMPHREY PRIMATT

We may pretend to what religion we please, but cruelty is atheism.
We may make our boast of Christianity; but cruelty is infidelity. We may trust to our orthodoxy; but cruelty is the worst of heresies.

                                                                  ~ Rev.  Humphrey Primatt 

This post picks up the discussion I began earlier addressing the fact that, while the church as an institution may have been silent about -- or even hostile to -- the idea of animal welfare as a Christian concern, there have always been people of faith with a different view.  John Wesley and Humphrey Primatt were two eighteenth century Anglican clergy who understood our obligations for mercy toward animals as a matter of faith and spoke publicly about it. 

John Wesley, who founded the Methodist tradition, addressed the issue most directly in his 1771 sermon, The GeneralDeliverance.  Humphrey Primatt is much less well-known today, but he tackled the issue head-on in a tract of some 300-plus pages titled ADissertation on the Duty of Mercy and the Sin of Cruelty to Brute Animals, published in 1776.  They do not agree on all the theological particulars, but they do agree that we have an obligation as followers of Christ to be merciful to all God’s creatures.