Saints of Feather and Fang
How the Animals We Love and Fear Connect Us to God
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- $28.99
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- $28.99
Publisher Description
From sheepdogs to wombats to coyotes to jellyfish, animals serve important biological roles in the world. But those who love animals know there's more. We know our connection to other creatures is more than fur, scale, or feather deep.
In Saints of Feather and Fang, writer and lifelong animal lover Caryn Rivadeneira looks at the ways that animals--from the pets who share our homes to the mysterious creatures of the deep--serve as spiritual guides for our hearts, minds, and souls.
Christian scripture teems with mammals, birds, and reptiles, and research on animals' sensory responses suggests that we not only care for our beloved animals but they, at times, care for us. A therapy pony who visits stroke victims, a rescued pit bull who shows restraint, hedgehogs that scurry down highways made just for them: these stories offer entrée to tender, whimsical, and deeply theological reflection on creaturely delight, instinct, curiosity, adaptation, fear, and awe. In them we discover and connect with the God who beckons, rescues, and shelters us with stretched-out wings.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rivadeneira (Broke) explores what Christians can learn about God from studying animals in this lighthearted if meandering volume. Using personal anecdotes, scriptural interpretation, and reflections on world events, Rivadeneira suggests that animals serve as "portals and signposts" to God. The author muses about her pet pit bull: the slow redemption of the breed, once reputed to be vicious but now seen by many as protective and loving, recalls Jesus's resurrection and redemption. Rivadeneira likens the delight one might experience watching hedgehogs on "hedgehog highways" (holes cut in residential fences facilitating hedgehog mobility and mating) to the pleasure one feels after clearing a path for God in one's life through prayer or Bible study. Arguing that God created frightening animals so that Christians might learn to overcome their fears, Rivadeneira finds godliness even in such creatures as bats and snakes. The author's comparisons sometimes feel strained, and a few of the chapters feel unfocused, but the down-to-earth meditations and conversational prose still charm. This entertaining tribute will appeal to Christian animal lovers.
