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Animal Destiny in the Afterlife: Biblical and Theological Perspectives

Biblical and theological traditions offer varied perspectives on the destiny of animals in the afterlife, often contrasting it with the human experience. Scripture frequently mentions animals in the context of creation, human dominion, and covenant. God created various animals "after its kind" [1, 2, 4] and placed them under human authority [5, 11]. Animals were included in the covenant with Noah after the flood [3].

However, the Bible also highlights distinctions between humans and animals. Ecclesiastes 3:19, for instance, notes that "the sons of men (Adam) are a mere chance, as also the beast is a mere chance," a sentiment that some interpreters attribute to skeptical individuals who deny human pre-eminence [10]. This passage suggests a view that both humans and beasts are "fortuities" in a physical sense, though the author of Ecclesiastes later refutes this idea [10].

Patristic and Scholastic theology generally distinguishes between the human soul and the animal soul. Tertullian, for example, discusses "material," "animal," and "spiritual" natures, assigning "undoubted destruction" to the material (carnal) and a "doubtful issue" to the animal nature, which he sees as oscillating between the material and spiritual [12]. Thomas Aquinas, a prominent Scholastic theologian, argues that while all creatures contribute to God's glory, their ultimate ends differ. He distinguishes between the "end for which" and the "end by which," suggesting that creatures like animals serve as means to an end, rather than possessing an ultimate end in themselves in the same way humans do [15]. For Aquinas, the object of an external act can be ordained to an end either directly or accidentally [8].

Reformed theology, as represented by Charles Hodge, tends to leave the subject of animal identity in the afterlife where the Bible leaves it, without making definitive affirmations [9]. Hodge's systematic theology focuses more on human identity and the nature of the resurrected body [9]. While animals are created by God and are part of His creation [5, 7], their purpose is often described in relation to humanity and God's glory [5, 11]. The concept of "life" for animals is often tied to their blood [6], and their existence is presented as subject to human dominion [11].

Jewish tradition, as seen in the Babylonian Talmud, discusses animals primarily in the context of ritual law, such as their suitability for sacrifice or consumption, and the legal implications of their interactions with humans [13, 14, 16]. These discussions do not typically extend to a concept of individual animal destiny in an afterlife.

Sources

  1. Genesis “Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort will come to you, to keep them alive. -- Genesis 6:20”
  2. Genesis “they, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. -- Genesis 7:14”
  3. Genesis “and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ship, even every animal of the earth. -- Genesis 9:10”
  4. Genesis “Genesis 1:24 (YLT) — And God saith, `Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind:' and it is so.”
  5. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Birds — Created by God -- Ge 1:20,21; 2:19. Created for the glory of God -- Ps 148:10. Herb of the field given as food to -- Ge 1:30. Differ in flesh from beasts and fishes -- 1Co 15:39. Power over given to man -- Ge 1:26; Ps 8:8. Names given to, by Adam -- Ge 2:19,20. Instinctively fear man -- Ge 9:2. Instinct of, inferior to man's reason -- Job 35:11. Lessons of wisdom to be learned from -- Job 12:7. Can all be tamed -- Jas 3:7. Given as food to man -- Ge 9:2,3. The blood of, not to be eaten -- Le 7:26. The property of God -- Ps 50:11. God provides for -- Ps 104:1-”
  6. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Blood — The life of animals -- Ge 9:4; Le 17:11,14. Fluid -- De 12:16. Red -- 2Ki 3:22; Joe 2:31. Of all men the same -- Ac 17:26. Eating of, forbidden to Man after the flood. -- Ge 9:4. The Israelites under the law. -- Le 3:17; 17:10,12. The early Christians. -- Ac 15:20,29. The Jews often guilty of eating -- 1Sa 14:32,33; Eze 33:25. Of animals slain for good to be poured on the earth and covered -- Le 17:13; De 12:16,24. Birds of prey delight in -- Job 39:30. Beasts of prey delight in -- Nu 23:24; Ps 68:23. Shedding of human Forbidden. -- Ge 9:5. Hateful to God. --”
  7. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Reptiles — Created by God -- Ge 1:24,25. Made for praise and glory of God -- Ps 148:10. Placed under the dominion of man -- Ge 1:26. Unclean and not eaten -- Le 11:31,40-43; Ac 10:11-14. Mentioned in scripture Chameleon. -- Le 11:30. Lizard. -- Le 11:30. Tortoise. -- Le 11:29. Snail. -- Le 11:30; Ps 58:8. Frog. -- Ex 8:2; Re 16:13. Horseleech. -- Pr 30:15. Scorpion. -- De 8:15. Serpent. -- Job 26:13; Mt 7:10. Flying fiery serpent. -- De 8:15; Isa 30:6. Dragon. -- De 32:33; Job 30:29; Jer 9:11. Viper. -- Ac 28:3. Adder or Asp. -- Ps 58:4; 91:13; Pr 23:32. Cockatrice o”
  8. theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part of the Second Part (Prima Secundae), Of the Good and Evil of Human Acts, in General, Art. 7: Article: Whether the species derived from the end is contained under the species derived from the object, as under its genus, or conversely? I answer that, The object of the external act can stand in a twofold relation to the end of the will: first, as being of itself ordained thereto; thus to fight well is of itself ordained to victory; secondly, as being ordained thereto accidentally; thus to take what belongs to another is ordained accidentally to the giving of ”
  9. CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 81: or of the uninterrupted continuity of the same vital 778 force as in the plant and animal through their whole progress of growth and decay; or whether it is a sameness which includes all these; or something different from them all. Nothing is affirmed. The subject is left where the Bible leaves it. The object aimed at is twofold; first, to show that it is perfectly rational for a man to assert the identity between our present and our future bodies, although he is forced to admit that he does not know wherein that identity is to consist. T”
  10. Ecclesiastes (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Ecclesiastes 3:19: Literally, "For the sons of men (Adam) are a mere chance, as also the beast is a mere chance." These words can only be the sentiments of the skeptical oppressors. God's delay in judgment gives scope for the "manifestation" of their infidelity (Ecc 8:11; Psa 55:19; Pe2 3:3,4). They are "brute beasts," morally (Ecc 3:18; Jde 1:10); and they end by maintaining that man, physically, has no pre-eminence over the beast, both alike being "fortuities." Probably this was the language of Solomon himself in his apostasy. He answers it in Ecc 3:21. If Ecc 3:”
  11. CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 26: § 4. Dominion over the Creatures . The third particular which enters into the dignity of man's original state, and into the image of God with which he was invested, was his dominion over the creatures. This arose from the powers with which he was invested, and from the express appointment of God. God constituted him ruler over the earth. He placed, as the Psalmist said, all things under his feet. In 1 Cor. xi. 7 , the Apostle says that the man is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man. This he gives as the reaso”
  12. Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 3: Tertullian — CHAP.XXVI.--THE THREE SEVERAL NATURES--THE MATERIAL, THE ANIMAL, AND THE SPIRITUAL, AND THEIR SEVERAL DESTINATIONS. THE STRANGE VALENTINIAN OPINION ABOUT THE STRUCTURE OF SOTER'S NATURE.: In like manner they assign to each of them a separate end.(15) To the material, that is to say the carnal (nature), which they also call "the left-handed," they assign undoubted 516 destruction; to the animal (nature), which they also call "the right-handed," a doubtful issue, inasmuch as it oscillates between the material and the spiritual, and is sure to fall at last on the side to w”
  13. Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Temurah 28a.20: Rabbi Shimon says: I infer an a fortiori inference in the following manner: And if a blemished animal, concerning which the testimony of two witnesses does not disqualify it from being eaten by an ordinary person, and nevertheless the admission of one witness, i.e., the Sage who rules that its blemish disqualifies it for the altar, disqualifies it from sacrifice, with regard to an animal that copulated with a person and an animal that was the object of bestiality, concerning which the admission of two witnesses disqualifies it from being eaten by an ordinary ”
  14. Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Temurah 68a.55:20: Rabbi Shimon says: I infer an a fortiori inference in the following manner: And if a blemished animal, concerning which the testimony of two witnesses does not disqualify it from being eaten by an ordinary person, and nevertheless the admission of one witness, i.e., the Sage who rules that its blemish disqualifies it for the altar, disqualifies it from sacrifice, with regard to an animal that copulated with a person and an animal that was the object of bestiality, concerning which the admission of two witnesses disqualifies it from being eaten by an ordina”
  15. theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part of the Second Part (Prima Secundae), Of Man's Last End, Art. 8: Article: Whether other creatures concur in that last end? I answer that, As the Philosopher says (Phys. ii, 2), the end is twofold---the end "for which" and the end "by which"; viz. the thing itself in which is found the aspect of good, and the use or acquisition of that thing. Thus we say that the end of the movement of a weighty body is either a lower place as "thing," or to be in a lower place, as "use"; and the end of the miser is money as "thing," or possession of money as "use." If, ther”
  16. Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Temurah 68b.55:20: Rabbi Shimon says: I infer an a fortiori inference in the following manner: And if a blemished animal, concerning which the testimony of two witnesses does not disqualify it from being eaten by an ordinary person, and nevertheless the admission of one witness, i.e., the Sage who rules that its blemish disqualifies it for the altar, disqualifies it from sacrifice, with regard to an animal that copulated with a person and an animal that was the object of bestiality, concerning which the admission of two witnesses disqualifies it from being eaten by an ordina”
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