universal benevolence, independently of any belief in the
transmigration of souls.^9 We have to wait nearly sixteen
hundredyears,however,beforeanyChristianwriterattacks
cruelty toanimals withsimilar emphasisanddetailonany
groundotherthanthatitmayencourageatendencytoward
cruelty to humans.
AfewChristiansexpressedsomeconcernforanimals.There
is a prayer written by Saint Basil that urges kindness to
animals, a remark by SaintJohn Chrysostom to the same
effect,andateachingofSaintIsaactheSyrian.Therewere
evensomesaints who,likeSaintNeot,sabotagedhunts by
rescuingstagsandharesfromthehunters.^10 Butthesefigures
failed to divert mainstream Christian thinking from its
exclusivelyspeciesistpreoccupation.Todemonstratethislack
ofinfluence,insteadoftracingthedevelopmentofChristian
views onanimals through theearly Church Fathers to the
medievalscholastics—atediousprocess,sincethereismore
repetitionthandevelopment—itwillbebettertoconsiderin
moredetailthanwouldotherwisebepossiblethepositionof
Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Aquinas’senormous Summa Theologica wasan attemptto
graspthesumoftheologicalknowledgeandreconcileitwith
theworldlywisdomofthephilosophers,thoughforAquinas,
Aristotlewassopreeminentinhisfieldthatheisreferredto
simplyas“thePhilosopher.”Ifanysinglewritermaybetaken
as representative of Christian philosophy prior to the
Reformation,andofRomanCatholicphilosophytothisday,
it is Aquinas.