#brave creatures

[dorknesstolight]

[dorknesstolight]

Creatures of One God

Started the day off at the excellent Imaginopolis for part 1 of their lecture series “Brother Fox Sister Squirrel: Animals in Christian Tradition” presented by the eloquent and insightful Sharon Autenrieth. Her sermons are always thoroughly researched and inclusive, taking time to explain different perspectives while emphasizing our points of commonality.

She introduced the topic of animal ethics by discussing the two ways most Americans think about animals (utility and sentimentality) and their respective faults. Those who talk about “Biblical dominion” often actively discourage conservation and ethical farming practices. On the other hand, sentiment might convince someone to try vegetarianism, but the change is unlikely to stick without a rooted ethical conviction.

Sharon’s talk challenged us to think about animals more holistically, as co-creations beloved by the same God. Beginning in Genesis and working through the Old Testament, she told stories about ways that animals not only served or aided mankind, but served as an instrument of God (Balaam’s ass featured prominently in this section). We talked about use and abuse of animals as a by product of the Fall, and the cheapness of both human and animal life (genocide and sacrifice). But she underlined that the Law set aside the Sabbath so humans and animals could rest and that oxen should be unmuzzled, able to enjoy the fruit of their labor.

Next we read stories from Apocryphal and legendary sources: the story of Paul baptizing a lion, which later saved his life in the arena stood out to me in particular. This led to a really interesting thought experiment: if an animal can be baptized, can it become a martyr?

Of course, just as the talk was getting great we had to stop for the day, but next session will take us through the Medieval and into the Modern era. And after the lecture there was time for group discusions about the incarnation, Gnosticism, and what it means to live out a salvation that comes for the whole of a person: spirit and flesh. As one commenter put it “All Matter Matters”

Right before we left, we found out that the folks behind Imaginopolis had seen our fliers and they wanted to know why we hadn’t be asked to give a lecture there ... maybe in 2020?