Animal welfare
We all know the passage in Luke (12.6) where Jesus tells his disciples: ‘Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.’
Sparrows are important in God’s eyes, and so are all animals, as the Bible constantly reminds us. Humans and all other animals are created by God’s love. God reveals himself to all, speaking directly to animals from the beginning of the Scriptures (Gen. 1, 22). In the second creation story, animals are created as Adam’s companions or helpers (Gen. 2, 18-19). To all, God gives as food that which comes from plants and trees (Gen. 1, 29-30): ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground –everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.’
The word translated here as ‘breath of life’ – nefesh – is present in both humans and animals.
This concept is re-affirmed elsewhere. In Ecclesiastes, Koheleth writes: ‘Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals […]: as one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals […] All come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?’ (Eccl. 3, 18-21).
Here, the word translated as breath is ruach – breath, spirit, but also the wind in which the Lord is present elsewhere in the Bible.
Humans are given dominion over the animals. However, the word radah used in Genesis 1.26 is also used elsewhere in reference to human hierarchies, e.g. a king’s dominion over his subjects. We have dominion over the living world, but we also have responsibilities.
Are factory farming, animal experiments, fur production, animal circuses, and other forms of animal exploitation compatible with the mandate to rule over animals that share with us the nefesh given by God? In other words, should we Christians care for animals or use them as chattels?
Are animals our neighbours too?
Jesus was once asked: ‘Who is my neighbour?’ (Luke 10.29). He answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan, which he concluded thus: ‘“Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”’
Like the Samaritan – who risked much by helping his neighbour – we can be part of the answer. With humans and other animals, through our actions and daily choices, we can reflect God’s love onto others, without boundaries.
All creation is called to praise God. Our attentiveness to the needs of animals – as individual Christians and as a Church – is our grateful response to the gift of the creatures God has given us as companions.
Adolfo Sansolini
We all know the passage in Luke (12.6) where Jesus tells his disciples: ‘Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.’
Sparrows are important in God’s eyes, and so are all animals, as the Bible constantly reminds us. Humans and all other animals are created by God’s love. God reveals himself to all, speaking directly to animals from the beginning of the Scriptures (Gen. 1, 22). In the second creation story, animals are created as Adam’s companions or helpers (Gen. 2, 18-19). To all, God gives as food that which comes from plants and trees (Gen. 1, 29-30): ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground –everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.’
The word translated here as ‘breath of life’ – nefesh – is present in both humans and animals.
This concept is re-affirmed elsewhere. In Ecclesiastes, Koheleth writes: ‘Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals […]: as one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals […] All come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?’ (Eccl. 3, 18-21).
Here, the word translated as breath is ruach – breath, spirit, but also the wind in which the Lord is present elsewhere in the Bible.
Humans are given dominion over the animals. However, the word radah used in Genesis 1.26 is also used elsewhere in reference to human hierarchies, e.g. a king’s dominion over his subjects. We have dominion over the living world, but we also have responsibilities.
Are factory farming, animal experiments, fur production, animal circuses, and other forms of animal exploitation compatible with the mandate to rule over animals that share with us the nefesh given by God? In other words, should we Christians care for animals or use them as chattels?
Are animals our neighbours too?
Jesus was once asked: ‘Who is my neighbour?’ (Luke 10.29). He answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan, which he concluded thus: ‘“Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”’
Like the Samaritan – who risked much by helping his neighbour – we can be part of the answer. With humans and other animals, through our actions and daily choices, we can reflect God’s love onto others, without boundaries.
All creation is called to praise God. Our attentiveness to the needs of animals – as individual Christians and as a Church – is our grateful response to the gift of the creatures God has given us as companions.
Adolfo Sansolini
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