Before I became Catholic, I was extremely literalistic in the way I read and understood Scripture. This should not be surprising, because I was nominally raised in a fundamentalistic tradition, that is, as a Southern Baptist. I did not realize Scripture was written with various genres and styles, and that its creation story (or stories) were better understood as myth than history. This is not to say such myth had no element of history associated with it, as history often is given over and used to create myths, but to expect the creation story (and much of the pre-history in Genesis) to be literal history is to miss the point of the texts. For this reason, I rejected evolution. To be sure, it was not simply because I was a Protestant I rejected evolution, because many Protestants understood what I did not about Scripture, it was because of the way I had been led to interpret Scripture which led me to being a “creationist.”
When I became Catholic, I was already changing the way I engaged Scripture. I was reading patristic authors, finding myself especially influenced by those coming from the Alexandrian tradition (St. Clement of Alexandria, Origen, St. Athanasius, and St. Cyril of Alexandria). Through the Alexandrians (and later, many others), I not only began to appreciate and accept Scripture often was best interpreted allegorically, sometimes complementing other forms of interpreting the text, but at other times exclusively (that is, when the “literal” interpretation of Scripture led to a fundamental misunderstanding of God or creation, as Origen indicated in On First Principles). This new hermeneutic did not immediately lead me to accept evolution; it was only after I read Vladimir Solovyov’s Lectures on Godmanhood did I find myself ready to do so. This is because Solovyov gave me what I needed, that is, a philosophical-theological interpretation of evolutionary history which harmonized with the dogmas of the Christian faith. Once I accepted the fact of evolution, I found myself to be free to take on and explore more and more of the revelations which have come to us from science, and use them in my own theological explorations.
There is a consistency to my development, even if, at various stages of it, I end up contradicting myself and what I believed at an earlier stage of my development, for, behind that development, there remains many principles which have not changed. I learned, for example, of the importance of the preferential option for the poor, and through it, why theology must always have a practical element to it. However, one of the more significant changes which emerged after I realized the fact of evolution, was the relationship which existed between humanity and animals, indeed, between humanity and the rest of the great tree of life, of which humanity forms only a part. I came to conclude that life on Earth must be seen as a kind of continuum, instead of completely independent beings which have no connection with each other. What did that mean for humanity? To that question, I came to believe that humanity shares much with all other life, but especially with animal life (because they are closer to us on the evolutionary tree), and many qualities which have historically been assumed to be true for humanity alone prove to be shared with other animals (such as creaturely subjectivity, and with it, the possession of an intellect and a will of their own, which is not to say every animal species possess these in the same proportion, for they do not; rather, there is often a difference in degree, with some animals, like it like chimpanzees, dolphins, cats, dogs, and mice, demonstrating they possess it on a greater level than many others).
Since I have learned to question many qualities which we assume make humanity special, such as the use of reason, I have had to as myself, what exactly differentiates humanity from every other animal. Some of the differences lies in the way humanity often possesses such qualities to a greater degree than others, but, due to the way evolution works, this does not have to always be the case. The real difference I found is the role God gave humanity: we are called to a special role, one of priestly service, where we are to serve as mediators and stewards of creation. When we fail to follow that role, we not only sin, we cause great pain and sorrow in the world (and universe) around us. It is because of this role it was fitting for God to become one of us, to become human, so that as the God-man, Jesus could and would fulfill our role in himself, and in doing so, we will find he elevated us and our role as we are meant to cooperate and share in his eschatological mediation in history. He is our high priest, the priest of a new, elevated form of humanity; those who call him Lord, those who incorporate him into their lives, are to live their lives to make sure they care for and elevate the rest of creation. This is what the priesthood of all believers entails. From that priesthood there emerges another, special priesthood, the ordained priesthood, where some people are called to especially embrace and realize the priestly character of humanity also represents their own special personal charism, while those who are not called to this special priesthood, find other qualities or attributes of the human condition are highlighted by their personal charism.
This vision which I have concerning humanity’s special purpose in the world, and with it, the kind of attitudes humanity should have of the rest of creation, has also led me to consider how I can best fulfill that task. As one way to answer that question, for myself, I decided to become vegetarian. This was something which took me many years to do, and it was the fruit of my reading of various philosophical, theological, and spiritual works. From Porphyry’s On The Abstinence of Eating Meat, to the examples of Sts. Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, Seraphim of Sarov, and even my chosen patron saint, Antony the Great, I slowly saw the personal need to take on a vegetarian form of life, knowing it is something which was personal, something which should be used to help me become more charitable in my way of living, and as a result, not something which should be forced upon others, but at best, offered as an option to others for their own personal development.
Since I became Catholic, I have developed a great love for animals. Yes, I recognize that other forms of life, those which are not as close to us on the evolutionary tree of life, also have value and worth, a value which we should not undermine by our actions, but I have been drawn to and hold a special place for animals in my life. I like to engage them, to watch them, to learn from them, to let them show themselves to me, to let them have room to be themselves and express themselves as they see fit. As a result, I have seen all kinds of things which have surprised me. I have seen animals showing charity to other animals, I have seen animals try to tell me things, even teach me things. I have seen how different animals of the same species act and react differently from each other, demonstrating that they all have their own unique personality. This confirmed to me the fact that each particular animal is a subject in its own right. We should not see animals as mere objects. This is why our mediation is important. It helps us be aware of the true value of God’s creation. When we ignore our role, when we look to the world as a thing to exploit for our own benefit, we end up denying the grandeur and value of God’s creation, and with it, the grandeur of glory of God.
* This Is Part XXXII In My Personal Reflections And Speculations Series
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