The Wisdom of the Liminal

This book has emerged from the author's twin interests in Christology and theological anthropology, discussing the relationship between humans and other animals. At one end of the continuum, as she sees it, is animal evolution and at the other is the human being fully developed in the image of God, with a long journey in between. This means covering a great deal of ground in the light of new evolutionary research and different epistemological and theological starting points. Her main argument is that the difference between humans and other animals is one of degree, and she covers the key areas of human reason and animal cognition, human freedom and animal agency, human morality and animal virtue, human language and animal communication, evolving social worlds, and human justice and animal fairness leading to a common ground of kinship. She engages not only with evolutionary biology and animal behaviour, but also ethology and cognitive psychology. Interestingly, she draws a great deal on the work of Thomas Aquinas, who set some of the theological boundaries of her discussion. It is a detailed and impressive treatment informed by the latest scholarship in these various fields, which makes it a book of more interest to professionals than the general reader.