The Causal Universe - 16th Krakow Methodological Conference

The image of God has, for much of the history of Christian theology, sought to define the meaning of human uniqueness by stressing human superiority over against other animals. Many environmentalists and other scientists now argue that we have entered a new era, the Anthropocene, where humans dominate the life on planet earth, reinforced by a restricted interpretation of Neo-Darwinian human evolution in terms of survival of the fittest. Against such separation narratives, the importance of acknowledging the fluidity of the human/other animal boundary surfaces in literature, philosophy, religious studies and current anthropology. Celia Deane-Drummond, Professor in Theology at the University of Notre Dame, will draw on current anthropology to present a case that even prior to the emergence of symbolic religious capabilities humans evolved in cooperative communities that recognised the significance of other animals as part of a wider community niche.