Cultural & Social Studies
Excellence in Scholarship and Learning
Excellence in Scholarship and Learning
The Link Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence
The Revd Professor Andrew Linzey is Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and a member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford. He has written more than 100 articles and authored or edited 20 books on theology and ethics, including seminal works on animals: Animal Theology (1994). In 2001, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree by the Archbishop of Canterbury in recognition of his 'unique pioneering work in the area of the theology of creation with particular reference to the rights and welfare of God's sentient creatures'.
NEWS RELEASE
1 November 2011
TOP HONOUR FOR INTERNATIONAL ANIMAL PIONEER
Oxford animal theologian Professor Andrew Linzey has been awarded a top university honour for his pioneering work around the world.
The University of Winchester is to recognise Professor Linzey with an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in recognition of his work in animal theology in a graduation ceremony on 9 November.
Professor Linzey, who is Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, said: "I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of my colleagues at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, who are in the forefront of pioneering this subject internationally.”
“Animal ethics is now an emerging discipline with scores of university courses world-wide, and this is a tremendous boost to those working in this field.”
“Animal ethics explores the challenges that new thinking poses, both conceptually and practically, to traditional understandings of human-animal relations.”
Professor Elizabeth Stuart, Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor commented: “At Winchester we value and celebrate those who champion the voiceless and challenge the dominant paradigms. We shall honour one of the animals’ most thoughtful and passionate champions, someone who I believe will be remembered as one of the most pioneering and influential theologians of his day.”
Professor Linzey was made an Honorary Professor of the University of Winchester in 2007, and in the same year his book Creatures of the Same God was the first to be published by Winchester University Press. He is also co-editor of the Journal of Animal Ethics published by the University of Illinois Press.
“Winchester has one of the most progressive departments of theology in the country, and I am delighted to be associated with it,” said Professor Linzey.
The RSPCA gave one of its highest awards,
the Lord Erskine Award, to Oxford theologian, the Reverend Professor
Andrew Linzey at a special ceremony held at the RSPCA Headquarters
in Horsham on 11 September 2010.
Professor Andrew Linzey is one of the world’s leading ethicists
on the status of animals and the pre-eminent theologian on animal
issues. He is the founder and the Director of the Oxford Centre
for Animal Ethics (www.oxfordanimalethics.com) and a member of the
Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford. This is the first
time that the award has been given to a theologian.
On hearing of the award, Professor Linzey said: “This is a
tremendous affirmation of the work we have been doing at the Oxford
Centre for Animal Ethics. I am happy to accept this award on behalf
of all the fellows of the Centre who are pioneering ethical perspectives
on animals.”
Professor Linzey has written or edited more than 20 books including
seminal works on animals: Animal Theology (1994), Animal
Gospel (1999), Creatures of the Same God (2004), and The
Link Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence (2009). His latest
book, Why Animal Suffering Matters published by Oxford
University Press in 2009 has been described as “a paradigmatic
example of how practical ethics ought to be done”. (Christopher
Libby, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture,
4.1. 2010).
Andrew Linzey is also Honorary Professor at the University of Winchester,
and Special Professor at Saint Xavier University, Chicago. In addition,
he is the first Henry Bergh Professor of Animal Ethics at the Graduate
Theological Foundation, Indiana. The post is named after Henry Bergh,
the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals (ASPCA) and pioneer in animal protection.
The RSPCA’s award is named after Lord Erskine (1750–1823)
who pioneered the first anti-cruelty legislation in the United Kingdom.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (as it then
was) was founded a year after his death in 1824.
| Hardback ISBN: | 978-1-84519-324-9 |
| Hardback Price: | £60.00 / $84.95 |
| Release Date: | July 2009 |
| Paperback ISBN: | 978-1-84519-325-6 |
| Paperback Price: | £19.95 / $44.95 |
| Release Date: | June 2009 |
| Page Extent / Format: | 300 pp. / 229 x 152 mm |
| Illustrated: | No |
About the Editor and Contributors
Introduction
Does Animal Abuse Really Benefit Us?
Andrew Linzey
Part I Overviews of Existing Research
Introduction by Andrew Linzey
1 Measuring Animal Cruelty and Case Histories
Marie Louise Petersen and David P. Farrington
2 Types of Cruelty: Animals and Childhood Cruelty,
Domestic Violence, Child and Elder Abuse
Marie Louise Petersen and David P. Farrington
3 A Lifespan Perspective on Human Aggression and Animal Abuse
Eleonora Gullone
Part II Emotional Development and Emotional Abuse
Introduction by Andrew Linzey
4 Empathy as an Indicator of Emotional Development
Andrea M. Beetz
5 Emotional Abuse of Children and Animals
Franklin D. McMillan
Part III Children, Family Violence, and Animals
Introduction by Andrew Linzey
6 Cruelty, Children, and Animals: Historically One,
Not Two, Causes
Sabrina Tonutt
7 Examining Children’s Exposure
to Violence in the Context of Animal Abuse
Frank R. Ascione
8 Women-Battering, Pet Abuse, and Human–Animal
Relationships
Clifton P. Flynn
9 The Role of Animals in Public Child Welfare Work
Christina Risley-Curtiss
Part IV Animal Abuse and Serial Murder
Introduction by Andrew Linzey
10 Developmental Animal Cruelty and its Correlates in Sexual
Homicide Offenders and Sex Offenders
Llian Alys, J. Clare Wilson, John Clarke and Peter Toman
11 Reducing the Link’s False Positive Problem
Jack Levin and Arnold Arluke
Part V Ethical Perspectives on Human–Animal
Relations
Introduction by Andrew Linzey
12 Is Human Rights Speciesist?
Conor Gearty
13 Responding Ethically to Animal Abuse
Mark H. Bernstein
14 The New Canaries in the Mine: The Priority of Human Welfare
in Animal Abuse Prosecution
Elizabeth Clawson
15 The Structure of Evil
Mark Rowlands
16 ‘Vile attentions’: On the Limits of Sympathetic
Imagination
Daniel B. Williams
Part VI Law Enforcement, Offenders, and Sentencing
Policy
Introduction by Andrew Linzey
17 An FBI Perspective on Animal Cruelty
Alan C. Brantley interviewed by Randall Lockwood and Ann W.
Church
18 Laws and Policy to Address the Link of Family Violence
Joan E. Schaffner
19 Dealing with Animal Offenders
Angus Nurse
20 Implications for Criminal Law, Sentencing Policy and Practice
Martin Wasik
Part VII Prevention and Professional Obligations
Introduction by Andrew Linzey
21 A Legal Duty to Report Suspected Animal Abuse – Are
Veterinarians Ready?
Ian Robertson
22 The Role of Veterinarians and Other Animal Welfare
Workers in the Reporting of Suspected Child Abuse
Corey C. Montoya and Catherine A. Miller
23 Animal Cruelty and Child Welfare – The Health Visitor’s
Perspective
Dawn Hawksworth and Rachel Balen
Part VIII The Abuse of Wild Animals
Introduction by Andrew Linzey
24 Overview of Research
Nicola Taylor and Tania Signal
25 Hunting as an Abusive Sub-culture
John Cooper
26 Hunting as a Morally Suspect Activity
Priscilla N. Cohn and Andrew Linzey
27 Dolphin Drive Hunts and the Socratic Dictum: ‘Vice
harms the doer’
Thomas I. White
Index
I think at some point in our career,
we as vets have come across at least one case where we’ve
suspected that an animal has been subject to neglect and/or
abuse. Often it could be that we think the case is not ‘severe’
enough to report or there are other (human) factors which
play a part in our decision making whether to report or not.
... If we – on top of considering the obvious unreasonable
suffering of the animal – knew, that signs of animal
abuse could be an indicator of much deeper problems in the
home of the caretaker, would our decision be different?
... This book provides critical overviews of existing research
and examines the latest evidence. It addresses the underlying
ethical issues and considers the implications for legal policy
and the work of key professionals (including veterinary surgeons).
It comprises work by international experts from seven countries
and features research by up-and-coming scholars as well as
accomplished researchers. It also looks into the link between
animal abuse and abuse/neglect of the elderly and has a chapter
regarding the abuse of wildlife.
... The introduction asks Does Animal Abuse Really Benefit
us? Later in the book we get some answers to why animal abuse
can ‘benefit’ humans as a vent for anger, depression
and frustration when a human is caught in an abusive relationship
as a child, adolescent or adult. But it also suggests that
in a home environment, where abuse and violence might be happening
frequently, children growing up in such homes fail to learn
to respect animals and later on in life could also develop
this attitude into having low respect for fellow humans. Adults
who have been subject to physical, sexual and mental abuse
in childhood (whether there was animal abuse in the home or
not) are more likely to develop the same patterns in adulthood.
This might not come as such as surprise, but in this book
we actually get some explanations to why this happens.
... The book is divided into 8 parts – each having
a short introduction with chapters written by various authors
to illustrate research and other investigation into the subject.
... As vets, we need to know as much as we can about our patients
and learn to recognise any signs of abuse and/or neglect early
on. But we must also appreciate the human implications of
animal neglect and abuse in order to help the animal presented
to us in the most effective and ‘holistic’ way.
In homeopathy we aim to treat the individual rather than the
symptom. If we knowingly treat an animal without looking into
its past and more importantly into its present situation,
then we’re treating the ‘symptoms’ shown
on the surface without addressing the real problem. If we
can help individual family members (especially children) in
a joint venture with other healthcare professionals and authorities,
then we’re helping in a truly ‘holistic way’.
... With references to statistics and calculations, parts
of this book could be a challenge to some readers. However,
chapters can be easily understood without them and the book
offers a great deal of helpful information for professionals
in understanding the dynamics of a violent home environment
and why people do what they do.
Read it and be all the wiser!
Book review by Malene
Jørgensen, CandMedVet, VetMFHom, MRCVS, appeared in BAHVS (British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons)
Excerpt from a review essay titled ‘The
Elephant in the Room: Three New Books on Animal Ethics and
Animal Theology’ by Scott Cowdell, who reviewed The
Link Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence, and two
other books by Andrew Linzey, Creatures of the Same God:
Explorations in Animal Theology (Lantern Books, New York);
and Why Animal Suffering Matters: Philosophy, Theology,
and Practical Ethics (Oxford University Press)
Andrew Linzey is the world’s first ‘animal
theologian’ … He charts his own vocational commitment
to animal welfare and the reform of Western theological imagination
– as a conscientiously vegetarian theological student,
then through decades of writing and activism as an academic
clergyman, most recently as founder of the Oxford Centre for
Animal Ethics.
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