Christopher STECK, SJ. All God’s Animals: A Catholic Theological Framework for Animal Ethics. Moral Traditions Series. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2019. pp. 249. $119.95 hb, $39.49 pb. ISBN 978-1-62616-715-5. Reviewed by Steve W. LEMKE, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, LA 70126

Christopher Steck, Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University, authors this important volume. Steck tracks historic beliefs about the moral status of animals in Catholic tradition, and then proposes a new trajectory for the status of animals in theology and ethics.

 Steck notes that the dominant Catholic model for many years followed the teaching of Thomas Aquinas (particularly in De Anima), which viewed animals as “soulless” and thus had no real theological status. Animals were to be used instrumentally for the good of humans. The scriptural statements describing animals in the eschatological future were deemed symbolic but not actual. When conjoined with the Catholic philosopher Rene Descartes, who regarded animals as merely brutes with no sensation, the result was public beatings of dogs by the Catholic priest Malebranche and the Catholic philosopher Arnauld to demonstrate that animals experienced no pain (!). While Protestants such as Methodists and Quakers stood strong for the moral status of animals, Catholics tended to have a more negative view. This negative moral evaluation of animals was evidenced in a popular moral theology text by Henry Davis used in Catholic seminaries from the 1930s through the 1950s, which opined that “Animals have no rights” and “we have no duties of justice or charity toward them” (p. 17).

However, both before and after Aquinas, there was another model in the Catholic tradition which accorded greater respect to animals. Steck first traces the biblical affirmations of a higher view of animals in Gen 9:10-12, Hos. 2:20, Zech 2:8, Isa. 11:6-9, Matt. 6:28-29, and Rom. 8:19-23. Built upon these Scriptures, the writings of Irenaeus, Athanasius, The Liturgy of Saint Basil, John Chrysostom, Maximus the Confessor, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Bonaventure, Anthony of Padua, and Francis of Assisi all present animals in a more positive light. More recently, Catholic theology has shifted away from the classical Thomistic view toward a more positive view of creation and its creatures. Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis (particularly his Laudato Si’) have portrayed animals as objects of God’s interest. Catholic documents such as the publication of Vatican II and the International Theological Commission have also accorded a higher view of animals than earlier Catholic thought. Steck also surveys recent ethologist research to make a case for animal cognition in stark contrast to the Cartesian view of animals. Modern science has found dolphins, elephants, dogs, cats, great apes, lions, and magpies, for example, have comparatively advanced cognition and a sense of agency.

Rejecting a “one size fits all” view of animals, Steck’s own proposal is built upon the trajectory of the theologies of Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar, about whom Steck has written another significant work. In Steck’s chastened view of the status of animals, which he labels “broken, covenantal anthropocentrism,” he believes the higher animals to share in the Noahic covenant and the redemption of Christ. While not at the same level as humans, they have their own dignity and communion with God. Steck rejects deep incarnationalism (the incarnation as being enfleshed) with Chalcedonian incarnationalism (in which Christ is incarnate as a human being). Not necessarily all animals, but at least the upper animals, share in the redemption of the world. The sanctification of animals comes through the Holy Spirit not as a group but as individual creatures toward their own teleology. Regarding eschatology, Steck advocates a “transformed continuity” (rather than an “epic eschatology” in which animals are radically changed) in which predation is eliminated as animals are elevated to a new level of existence.

Addressing animal rights, Steck does not affirm animal rights per se, but that Christians should treat animals as objects of the divine covenant. Eschewing universal norms regarding treatment of animals, Steck argues that the “already-not yet” of the current world makes applying Kingdom principles difficult. Christians should make their own decisions under the leadership of the Spirit. Steck does not deny meat eating, but he does discourage eating meat from factory farms, and urges caution with regard to animal experimentation.

All God’s Animals is a rich and complex work not easily summarized. It is a valuable contribution to Catholic ethical thought. It affords a theological perspective on the role of animals for all Christians to ponder. Highly recommended.