{"id":2435,"date":"2007-07-25T00:20:02","date_gmt":"2007-07-25T00:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html"},"modified":"2007-07-25T00:20:02","modified_gmt":"2007-07-25T00:20:02","slug":"a-theology-of-pets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html","title":{"rendered":"A Theology of Pets?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Because of a recent letter, I have a few questions today: Do you have a theology of pets? Do you find some are so committed to their pets they are incapable of serving humans? What kind of theology of pet-care do you espouse? Here is a picture of our dog, the Bichon, and Luke and Annika’s two dogs, and then the letter:
\n\"100_0588.JPG\"<\/a>
\nHi Scot,
\nI enjoy reading your blog. A topic that could be interesting is a Christian understanding of the value and role of pets. As a pastor I have dealt with the question of pets in heaven several times. I am thinking more along the lines of the emotional and financial requirements of pets and their impact on discipleship.
\nI have observed the incredible love and tenderness shown for a dear family pet which is wonderful evidence for the good in God’s creation.
\nConversely, the impact of the love of a pet on ones willingness and ability to love another. What happens if our love for our pets impacts our willingness to love and serve our neighbor?
\nI realize that the above is rather simplistic and love is not a zero sum game, but with the incredible growth of pet keeping in our country, I for one would be interested in a discussion of a theological view of pet keeping.
\nJust a thought, do with it what you will!
\nI appreciate your books and ministry,
\nD.M.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because of a recent letter, I have a few questions today: Do you have a theology of pets? Do you find some are so committed to their pets they are incapable of serving humans? What kind of theology of pet-care do you espouse? Here is a picture of our dog, the Bichon, and Luke and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nA Theology of Pets? - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Theology of Pets? - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Because of a recent letter, I have a few questions today: Do you have a theology of pets? Do you find some are so committed to their pets they are incapable of serving humans? What kind of theology of pet-care do you espouse? Here is a picture of our dog, the Bichon, and Luke and…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-07-25T00:20:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.jesuscreed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/100_0588.thumbnail.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"xscot mcknight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Theology of Pets? - Jesus Creed","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Theology of Pets? - Jesus Creed","og_description":"Because of a recent letter, I have a few questions today: Do you have a theology of pets? Do you find some are so committed to their pets they are incapable of serving humans? What kind of theology of pet-care do you espouse? Here is a picture of our dog, the Bichon, and Luke and…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2007-07-25T00:20:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.jesuscreed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/100_0588.thumbnail.JPG"}],"author":"xscot mcknight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html","name":"A Theology of Pets? - Jesus Creed","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.jesuscreed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/100_0588.thumbnail.JPG","datePublished":"2007-07-25T00:20:02+00:00","dateModified":"2007-07-25T00:20:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/9c0db2eaf4d047d76276f907b62843f0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.jesuscreed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/100_0588.thumbnail.JPG","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.jesuscreed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/100_0588.thumbnail.JPG"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/a-theology-of-pets.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Theology of Pets?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith for today","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/9c0db2eaf4d047d76276f907b62843f0","name":"xscot mcknight","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/1f0\/1f0cb0f88d1f99f6e05597a2de7f1949x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/1f0\/1f0cb0f88d1f99f6e05597a2de7f1949x96.jpg","caption":"xscot mcknight"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/author\/xscot-mcknight"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}