In this carefully structured theological reflection, Margaret Adam, theologian, ethicist and visiting tutor at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, explores what makes concern for animals a distinctly Christian question.
She argues that care for animals flows from the identity of Christians as members of the body of Christ, called to live now in the light of the peaceable kingdom to come.
Drawing on Scripture, worship and the life of the church, she suggests that animal concern is not an optional cause but something already woven into Christian practice, from prayer and confession to the Eucharist itself.
She also challenges the assumption that Christian action must be justified by measurable impact, proposing instead that even small acts of care can bear witness to the reconciliation of all creation in Christ.
