Creation and Animal Suffering
— Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 —
In a couple of hours, I plan to engage my Christian theology class here at Southern Seminary in a discussion of cosmic origins and the problem of evil. Today we’ll be talking specifically about animal suffering, and how that fits with our understanding of God and ourselves.
For a fuller account of how I think the Bible addresses predation, carnivory, and so forth, see my article “All Things Dark and Terrible” from a couple of years ago in Touchstone. My original title was “Where the Wild Things Are,” but there’s some buttoned-up title-reviser in our offices in Chicago who always tones such things down.
I wasn’t able to access your article through the link. Interesting that you should bring this up. Another Facebook friend has joined a group that protests the use of stray dogs as shark bait (evidently a practice on one of the island possessions of France). As my heart wrenched at the sight of a beautiful golden retriever with a huge hook through its nose, I was reminded by the statement of a friend who is a relatively young believer (but wise in years) that the reason people sometimes feel worse about the suffering of an animal than they do of another human being is because God, in giving Adam dominion over the animals, made him (and consequently us) responsible for them. And because Adam brought sin into the world–and through sin turmoil to all of God’s creation–we are living out that part of legacy of the fall, as well. I really would like to read your article to see where you went with it.