In The Friends We Keep: Unleashing Christianity's Compassion for Animals (Baylor Univ., Oct.), Laura Hobgood-Oster seeks to return animals to the heart of Christianity, a place she says they once held along with people.
"What has been forgotten is that the traditions, the biblical texts, and the lives of the saints have never just been about humans," said Hobgood-Oster, a professor of religion and the environment at Southwestern University. "The history and theological understanding of the Christian tradition has been impoverished by the exclusion of these animals."
The book retells many of the biblical and apocryphal tales about animals and highlights their relevance to issues today, such as factory farming, vegetarianism and veganism, and animal rights. It calls for Christians to apply these stories to contemporary theology and to take action.
"It is when we start to think we are the center of everything [that] we run into theological problems, environmental problems, and social justice problems," Hobgood-Oster said. "But when we start including the voices of those who have been excluded, it raises issues of justice and compassion that extend to communities all over the place."
One of the goals of The Friends We Keep is to link the Christian community with the animal rescue community, which Hobgood-Oster, a vegetarian, has been a part of for decades.
Nicole Smith Murphy, associate director and product and sales manager at Baylor, suggested the idea to Hobgood-Oster after reading her first book, Holy Dogs and Asses: Animals in the Christian Tradition (Univ. of Illinois, 2008). That book was an academic study of the role of animals in Christianity, and the time was right, Murphy thought, for a book aimed at the general Christian market. "It just felt like animal issues were not fringe issues anymore, with the work of Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver," she said.
Baylor has hired DeChant-Hughes to handle publicity, and Hobgood-Oster will travel and conduct pet blessings in faith communities. The press has placed ads with national animal rescue organizations and has the support of the Humane Society's faith outreach group.
"We have had no problem getting media attention for this," Murphy said. "Everyone has had a pet they really connected to, and what Laura writes about has really struck a chord with many people."
