Andrew Linzey is an Anglican priest, theologian, author, and prominent figure in the Christian vegetarian movement. He has authored and co-wrote many books on the subject of animal reverence.
Linzey has often been quoted as saying "Animals are God's creatures, not human property, nor utilities, nor resources, nor commodities, but precious beings in God's sight. ... Christians whose eyes are fixed on the awfulness of crucifixion are in a special position to understand the awfulness of innocent suffering. The Cross of Christ is God's absolute identification with the weak, the powerless, and the vulnerable, but most of all with unprotected, undefended, innocent suffering.
In 1990, he was awarded the Peaceable Kingdom Medal for outstanding work in the field of theology and animals. In June, 2001, he was awarded a DD (Doctor of Divinity) degree by George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, in recognition of his “unique and massive pioneering work in the area of the theology of creation with particular reference to the rights and welfare of God’s sentient creatures”. This is the highest award that the Archbishop can bestow on a theologian and the first time it has been awarded for work involving animals. In 2006, in recognition of his role in the creation of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, Linzey was named the Henry Bergh Professor of Animal Ethics at the Graduate Theological Foundation in the U.S., the first such professorship of its kind in the world.
Some of Andrew Linzey's works:
Animal Rights: A Christian Perspective (London: SCM Press, 1976)
Christianity and the Rights of Animals (London: SPCK and New York: Crossroad, 1987 and 1989)
Animal Theology (London: SCM Press and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994 and 1996)
Animal Gospel: The Christian Defense of Animals (Hodder & Stoughton Religious, 1998)
Animal Gospel: Christian Faith as If Animals Mattered (London: Hodder and Stougton, and Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1999 and 2000)
Animal Rites: Liturgies of Animal Care (London: SCM Press and Cleveland: Ohio: The Pilgrim Press, 1999 and 2001)
Creatures of the Same God: Explorations in Animal Theology (New York: Lantern Books, 2009).
Why Animal Suffering Matters: Philosophy, Theology, and Practical Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2009).
