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Genesis and Humanity’s Dominion

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Animals in the Writings of C. S. Lewis

Part of the book series: The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series ((PMAES))

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Abstract

C. S. Lewis thought often about the meaning of humanity’s “dominion” over the earth and its animals (Genesis 1:26), and he insists it does not indicate a dispassionate, heavy-handed conquest of other creatures. Instead, he articulates a gentler vision of humanity’s role in Creation. This chapter examines ways the Victorian author George MacDonald informed Lewis’s thinking on this topic, and then examines various selections illustrating the improper and proper exercise of authority.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

—Genesis 1:26

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Providence University College, Otterburne, MB, Canada

    Michael J. Gilmour

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  1. Michael J. Gilmour
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Correspondence to Michael J. Gilmour .

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Gilmour, M.J. (2017). Genesis and Humanity’s Dominion. In: Animals in the Writings of C. S. Lewis. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55298-3_3

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