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Liberation Theology and the Oppression of Animals
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 January 2009
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Observers of the theological scene over the past twenty years have witnessed the growth of what can only be described as a new way of doing theology. That theology, like all disciplines, should be subject to change and innovation is unsurprising; neither is it surprising that new fashions or movements should – to appropriate some words of John Clare:
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References
1 Clare, John, ‘Written in Northampton County Asylum’ in Seymour, William Kean and Smith, John (eds) The Pattern of Poetry (London: Burke Publishing, 1967) p. 136Google Scholar.
2 Gutiérrez, Gustavo, A Theology of Liberation (1971) ET by Inda, Caridad and Eagleson, John (London: SCM Press, 1988) pp. 24–25; my emphasesGoogle Scholar.
3 Gutiérrez, ibid., p. 90; my emphases.
4 See Gutiérrez, ibid., pp. 83–105, and Leonardo, and Boff, Clodovis, Introducing Liberation Theology (London: Burns and Oates, 1990) pp. 43–65Google Scholar.
5 Gutiérrez, ibid., p. 90; my emphasis.
6 See Midgley, Mary, Animals and Wliy They Matter: A Journey Around the Species Barrier (London: Penguin Books, 1983), pp. 12–18Google Scholar.
7 Anyone who doubts the difficulty of mainstream western Christian tradition accommodating ecological perspectives need look no further than the unwavering humanocentricity of the Second Vatican Council. All amply documented in Flannery, Austin (ed.) Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents (Dublin: Dominican Publications, 1975)Google Scholar.
8 Boff, Leonardo, Saint Francis: A Model for Human Liberation (1981) ET by Crossroad Publishing Company (London: SCM Press, 1986) p. 4Google Scholar.
9 Boff, Saint Francis, ibid., p. 15.
10 Boff, Saint Francis, ibid., p. 18.
11 St Bonaventure, cited by Boff, Saint Francis, ibid., p. 37; my emphasis.
12 Boff, Saint Francis, ibid., p. 46; my emphases.
13 See Boff, Saint Francis, ibid., chapters 2 and 4.
14 See Sorrell, Roger D., St Francis of Assisi and Nature: Tradition and Innovation in Western Christian Attitudes toward the Environment (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988)Google Scholar.
15 Andrew Linzey, Brother and Sister Creatures: The Saints and Animals, unpublished mss, p. 34.
16 Gutierrez, ibid., p. 165.
17 See Carpenter, Edward et al. , Animals and Ethics (London: Watkins, 1980) p. 21Google Scholar.
18 Karl Barth, cited by Gutierrez, ibid., p. 6.
19 For my detailed discussion, see Linzey, Andrew, The Neglected Creature: The Doctrine of the Non-human Creation and its Relationship with the Human in the Thought of Karl Barth, unpublished PhD thesis, University of London, 1986Google Scholar.
20 I summarise here what I have developed at length elsewhere, e.g. see my PhD thesis above, also Linzey, Andrew, Christianity and the Rights of Animals (London: SPCK and New York: Crossroad, 1987)Google Scholar; ‘Animals in Creation – A Christian View’ in Regan, Tom (ed.) Animal Sacrifices: Religious Perspectives on the Use of Animals in Science (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986)Google Scholar, and ‘Reverence, Responsibility and Rights’ in Paterson, David and Palmer, Mary (eds) The Status of Animals: Ethics, Education and Welfare (Oxford: C.A.B. International, 1989)Google Scholar.
21 Athanasius, St, Contra Gentes and De Incamatione, ET by Thomson, R. W. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971) pp. 113–115Google Scholar.
22 John 1:3 (RSV).
23 For a critique, see Linzey, Andrew, ‘Is Anthropocentricity Christian?’ in Theology (January, 1981) pp. 18–23Google Scholar.
24 St Athanasius, ibid., p. 115; my emphasis.
25 See Davis, Henry, Moral and Pastoral Theology, Vol. II, Commandments of God; Precepts of the Church (London: Sheed and Ward, 1946), pp. 258–259Google Scholar; extract in Linzey, Andrew and Regan, Tom (eds) Animals and Christianity: A Book of Readings (London: SPCK and New York: Crossroad, 1989) pp. 130–131Google Scholar.
26 Häring, Bernard, The Law of Christ, Vol. II (Dublin and London: Mercier Press, 1963) pp. 361–362Google Scholar.
27 Dostoyevsky, , The Brothers Karamazov, Vol. I, ET by Magarshack, David (London: Penguin, 1958) p. 375Google Scholar.
28 St Athanasius, ibid., p. 5.
29 Barth, Karl, The Knowledge of God and the Service of God according to the Teaching of the Reformation (London: Hodderand Stoughton, 1949) p. 44Google Scholar; my emphasis.
30 Boff, , ferns Christ Liberator: A Critical Christology of Our Time (1972) ET by Books, Orbis (London: SPCK, 1980) p. 211Google Scholar; my emphases.
31 Sobrino, Jon, The True Church and the Poor (1981), ET by Books, Orbis (London: SCM Press, 1985), p. 49Google Scholar.
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33 Gutierrez, ibid., p. 81.
34 Ward, Keith, The Promise (London: SPCK, 1982) p. 2Google Scholar.
35 Rom. 8: 18–24 (RSV).
36 Genesis 6:6 (RSV).
37 See, e.g. The Essene Gospel of Peace, edited by Szekely, Edmond Bordeaux (London: International Biogenic Society, 1937)Google Scholar. This is claimed as ‘the Third Century Aramaic Manuscript and Old Slavonic Texts’. In it Jesus is depicted as a vegetarian.
38 for a digest of biblical sayings about animals see Animals and Christianity, ibid.
39 John 2:14–16. For the view that Christianity abolished animal sacrifices see Rowley, R. H., The Biblical Doctrine of Election (London: Lutterworth Press, 1950) p. 163Google Scholar.
40 Lorenz, Konrad, On Aggression (London: Mcthuen, 1966) p. 195Google Scholar; cited and discussed in Rothschild, Miriam, Animals and Man (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1986) p. 52Google Scholar; my emphasis.
41 Regan, Tom, The Case for Animal Rights (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983) pp. 232–265Google Scholar.
42 For example, John Wesley in his sermon on ‘The General Deliverance’ in which he specifically envisages a new earth for all creatures, extract in Animals and Christianity, ibid., pp. 101–103.