Interpreting Animals in the Bible -- Seeing Human and Non-Human Animals as Siblings in the Struggle to Survive

March 21, 2023, 7:30pm Eastern Time

Too often, the traditional view of humans as “above” and “separate” from non-human animals has dominated the way we understand the Bible. In this session, Hebrew Testament Scholar Jaime Waters and New Testament Scholar Brian James Tipton will discuss ways to read scripture with an eye to disrupting “speciesism” and human domination. They will explore how hermeneutical perspectives that emphasize deep equality and the intrinsic worth of all creation can open up new understandings of texts about non-human animals.

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Dr. Jaime L. Waters is Associate Professor of Old Testament at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. She is the author of Threshing Floors in Ancient Israel: Their Ritual and Symbolic Significance (Fortress Press, 2015) and What Does the Bible Say About Animals? (New City Press, 2022), and is working on a commentary on the book of Jeremiah for the Wisdom Commentary Series (Liturgical Press) and a book on methods of biblical interpretation (Baker Academic). Waters is also a contributor at America: The Jesuit Review of Faith & Culture. She holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, M.A. from Yale University, and B.A. from Boston College. Before joining the Boston College faculty, Dr. Waters taught for nine years in the department of Catholic Studies at DePaul University.

Dr. Brian James Tipton is an adjunct faculty member in New Testament and Early Christianity at Drew Theological School as well as the founder and Connectional Teaching Pastor of Connectional Teaching Ministries in Southern California. He holds a PhD from Drew Theological School, where his dissertation focused on animality and the Gospel of Mark, exploring its various non-human creatures in metaphor, metonymy, simile, and, simply, animals-as-animals. His academic work engages the Bible and ecology and focuses on the intersection of animality and race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and childhood, among other categories.