# Love, rinse, repeat: Animals and creation

> “We must give consideration to what modes of interactions with other animals might appropriately reflect our shared participation in God’s gracious acts of creation, reconciliation, and redemption.”

By Liam Miller · 31 October 2019 · Features

Canonical: https://insights1.uca.org.au/articles/love-rinse-repeat-animals-and-creation/

*“We must give consideration to what modes of interactions with other animals might appropriately reflect our shared participation in God’s gracious acts of creation, reconciliation, and redemption.”*

With the Melbourne Cup on our doorstep Liam Miller sat down with David L. Clough to talk about ethics, theology and the relationships between human and non-human animals. They discuss the problems with a human-centred view of creation (where animals exist for our purpose), the surprising concern for animals demonstrated throughout the Christian tradition, the vocation of all creatures to live particular lives before God. Liam also asks what the anthropomorphism of Peppa Pig illuminates about our creaturely similarity, and a question based on The Octonaughts about the ethics of intervention to care for animals as if they are our neighbours.

[Embedded media](https://www.youtube.com/embed/VuT2P1c-ATA)

Watch this video on YouTube

David L. Clough is Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Chester, UK. His books include, *Ethics in Crisis: Interpreting Barth’s Ethics*, and *Faith and Force: A Christian Debate about War.* He co-edited *Creaturely Theology: On God, Humans and Animals*, and *Animals as Religious Subjects*. In 2015, he launched the [**CreatureKind**](https://www.becreaturekind.org/) project, which engages churches in the UK and North America with farmed animal welfare as a faith issue. In 2018 he launched the[**DefaultVeg project**](http://defaultveg.com/) encouraging organisations to make a simple change to events catering policy that benefits humans, animals, and the planet. He is a Methodist Local Preacher and has served on national ecumenical working groups on the ethics of modern warfare and the theology of climate change. Today’s discussion centres on his recently completed, landmark two-volume work, *On Animals* ([**Volume I Systematic Theology**](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/on-animals-9780567632869/) was published in 2012; and [**Volume II Theological Ethics**](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/on-animals-9780567660862/), came out this year – both published with Bloomsbury).

Follow David on twitter: @DLClough

Follow Liam: @liammiller87

For more interviews [**visit the podcast website**](http://www.loverinserepeat.com/podcast/)or Subscribe to Love Rinse Repeat in your Podcast App.

**Liam Miller is the Northern Hub Mission Resource Worker for the Sydney Central Coast Presbytery.**

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