Abstract
Underlying Lewis’s fascination with the Genesis image of Adam and Eve in the Garden with “every beast of the field” (2:19) is the certainty that nature and all the creatures populating earth, sky, and sea are good (1:31). Paradise is lost, yes, but hope remains. Faith clings to the expectation of a restoration, which means, as St. Paul puts it, an end to creation’s groaning. If this is the case, there are implications for Christian ethics in the present. Animal suffering is an evil requiring the response of God’s people while they await the kingdom of God in its fullness. This includes advocacy on behalf of suffering animals.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
—Genesis 1:31
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adams, Edward. “Retrieving the Earth from the Conflagration: 2 Peter 3.5–13 and the Environment.” In Ecological Hermeneutics: Biblical, Historical and Theological Perspectives. Edited by David G. Horrell, Cherryl Hunt, Christopher Southgate, and Francesca Stavrakopoulou. 108–120. London T&T Clark, 2010.
Filmer-Davies, Cath. “C. S. Lewis.” In The Oxford Handbook of English Literature and Theology. Edited by Andrew W. Hass, David Jasper, and Elisabeth Jay. 655–668. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Ford, Paul F. Companion to Narnia: A Complete Guide to the Magical World of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.
Gilmour, Michael J. “C. S. Lewis and Animal Experimentation.” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 67.4 (2015): 254–262.
Gullone, Eleonora. Animal Cruelty, Antisocial Behaviour, and Aggression: More than a Link. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
Hauerwas, Stanley. “On Violence.” In The Cambridge Companion to C. S. Lewis. Edited by Robert MacSwain and Michael Ward. 189–202. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Hazard, Holly. “Humane Education.” In The Global Guide to Animal Protection. Edited by Andrew Linzey. 286–287. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2013.
Hobgood-Oster, Laura. A Dog’s History of the World: Canines and the Domestication of Humans. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2014.
Jacobs, Alan. The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006.
Johnson, Samuel. Johnson on Shakespeare: Essays and Notes Selected and Set Forth with an Introduction. Edited by Sir Walter Raleigh. London: Henry Frowde, 1908.
Laurent, John. “C. S. Lewis and Animal Rights.” Mythlore 19.1 [Issue 71] (1993): 46–51.
Lewis, C. S. All My Road Before Me: The Diary of C. S. Lewis 1922–1927. Edited by Walter Hooper. San Diego: Harcourt, 1991.
———. The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Traditions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
———. The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis. Volume 3. Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950–1963. Edited by Walter Hooper. New York: HarperCollins, 2007.
———. A Grief Observed. In The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics. 647–688. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.
———. The Horse and His Boy. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.
———. The Last Battle. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.
———. Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.
———. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.
———. The Magician’s Nephew. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.
———. Out of the Silent Planet. London: HarperCollins, 2005.
———. Perelandra. London: HarperCollins, 2005.
———. The Pilgrim’s Regress: An Allegorical Apology for Christianity, Reason and Romanticism. Glasgow: Collins, 1977.
———. Poems. New York: HarperOne, 2017.
———. Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.
———. The Problem of Pain. In The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics. 543–646. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.
———. Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics. New York: HarperOne, 2017.
———. Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.
———. That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups. London: HarperCollins, 2005.
———. “Vivisection.” In God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics. Edited by Walter Hooper. 224–228. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970.
———. The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.
———. “Why I Am Not a Pacifist.” In The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses. 64–90. New York: HarperOne, 2000.
———, ed. George MacDonald: An Anthology. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.
Li, Chien-Hui. “Mobilizing Christianity in the Antivivisection Movement in Victorian Britain.” Journal of Animal Ethics 2.2 (2012): 141–161.
Linzey, Andrew, ed. The Link between Animal Abuse and Human Violence. Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, 2009.
Maier, Harry O. “Green Millennialism: American Evangelicals, Environmentalism and the Book of Revelation.” In Ecological Hermeneutics: Biblical, Historical and Theological Perspectives. Edited by David G. Horrell, Cherryl Hunt, Christopher Southgate, and Francesca Stavrakopoulou. 246–265. London T&T Clark, 2010.
Malamud, Randy. “Coetzee and Animals, Literature and Philosophy.” Journal of Animal Ethics 2.2 (2012): 212–215.
Manguel, Alberto, and Gianni Guadalupi, eds. The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. Toronto: Vintage, 2001.
McGrath, Alister. C. S. Lewis—Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet: A Life. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale, 2013.
Regan, Tom, and Andrew Linzey, eds. Other Nations: Animals in Modern Literature. Baylor: Baylor University Press, 2010.
Schwartz, Sanford. C. S. Lewis on the Final Frontier: Science and the Supernatural in the Space Trilogy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Shakespeare, William. The Norton Shakespeare: Based on the Oxford Edition. 2nd ed. Edited by Stephen Greenblatt et al. New York: Norton, 2008.
Wright, N. T. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. New York: HarperOne, 2008.
Zamir, Tzachi. “Literary Works and Animal Ethics.” In The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics. Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp and R. G. Frey. 932–955. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gilmour, M.J. (2017). Genesis and the Animal–Human Community . 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_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55298-3_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55297-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55298-3
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)