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Books examine question of whether animals have souls

Kevin Eckstrom
(RNS) Jonathan Wills looks on as the Rev. Donald King blesses the youngster's two hamsters, Whitey and Stanley, at Hope Lutheran Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Religion News Service file photo by Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.

(RNS) Jonathan Wills looks on as the Rev. Donald King blesses the youngster’s two hamsters, Whitey and Stanley, at Hope Lutheran Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Religion News Service file photo by Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.

Press-Telegram, Long Beach, Calif. (RNS):The fate of our four-legged friends – whether they have a soul, whether they’ll be in the afterlife – has occupied the minds of Christian thinkers ever since the days of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine.

Three recent books try to answer the question, and affirm a special relationship between humans and animals – one that does not end with death. Read Full Story.


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