All God's Animals: A Catholic Theological Framework for Animal Ethics, Paperback

In books making the argument for animal ethics, most works either do not address the religious tradition of ethics or use the religious tradition to argue against animal ethics. This book stands out by addressing the ethics of animals within the religious tradition of moral theology and engaging it to create a new ethics.
Chris Steck's book seeks to present a comprehensive, Catholic theology of animals and an ethical response to them. His claim first is that animals are part of the kingdom to come (and therefore part of the eschtological framework) therefore animals should be included within the same ethical framework as humans. And, second, he claims that eschatology is not just about the future (after death) but also about the present. Further, he includes any animal with "significant intellectual capacities" as part of the definition of "animal," demonstrating the need to develop traditional teaching in this area. Given what we now know about animals from contemporary scientific investigations and how interpretations of Genesis have evolved, it makes sense to revise our theological ethics.

Rev. Christopher Steck, SJ, who earned his Ph.D. at Yale, has been a member of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University since 1999. In addition to his book The Ethical Thought of Hans Urs von Balthasar, he has published many articles dealing with theoretical issues in Catholic moral theology.