Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod

The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) is a conservative Lutheran denomination with German immigrant roots. It holds that the Holy Scripture is explained and interpreted by the Book of Concord, a series of Confessions of Faith composed by Lutherans in the 16th century. The Missouri Synod also teaches Biblical inerrancy, the teaching that Bible is inspired by God and is without error. For this reason, they reject much of modern liberal scholarship.

Number of Members: 2.4 million 

Statement 1

"While both are creatures of God, man and animals are clearly not on some kind of equal footing. For reasons that God has not revealed to us, man's diet prior to the flood was limited to "green plants." However, recalling for man the divine arrangement at creation, God tells Noah and his sons, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth" (cf. Gen. 1:28a) and "they [animals] are given into your hands" (9:2; cf. Gen. 1:28b).

The Creator Himself expressly permits the eating of animals. The exercise of man's dominion now permitted by God to include the use of animals for food, Genesis tells us, drives fear into the creatures under man--and understandably so.  We might add here that in general the Christian tradition has long held that animals may be killed and eaten for food in keeping with what is said in Genesis 9. That this is not a mere concession to the human race in its fallen condition, is the apparent assumption of Jesus and His apostles that animals may be eaten without sin. At the same time, we are to remember that animals are God's creation, that He provides for them (Matt. 6), and that they may serve as very fitting images for higher spiritual truths, most especially truths about how the Kingdom of God comes (Luke 15:3-7; John 10).

They are not to be treated with cruelty, but received as God's good gifts over which He has placed us as stewards (Gen. 1:28)--which includes our use of them for food and for our enjoyment. It is possible that the wise saying in Proverbs 12:10 has some application in this connection: "A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast...."

(LCMS statement on "Man and Animals")

Martin Luther on Animals:

Like most theologians of his day (and ours), Martin Luther (1483-1546) saw humans as superior to other animals because unlike all other animals, humans were made in the image of God and have reason. For instance, in his Lectures on Genesis, Luther wrote that "In the remaining creatures God is recognized as by His footprints; but in the human being, especially in Adam, He is truly recognized," since humans were "not created like the rest of the animals but according to God's image." And in the same lectures Luther observed that "The human being is endowed with reason, which has the advantage over all the animals."

Yet Luther also saw other than human animals as being divine, since they, too, were created by the word of God. Furthermore, he describes animals as praising God better than humans, and having more compassion for their fellow animals than humans do for other humans. Luther even believed there would be dogs in heaven. Perhaps for all these reasons, Luther thought that even though God told Noah that humans could eat animals after the Flood, there was not reason that we had to--and in fact we should not, since animals were created primarily as another way for us to praise God.

Luther on animals as being divine because they reveal the hand of the Creator:

"The sun warms; but it would bring nothing into being unless God said by His divine power: 'Let a mouse come out of the decay.' Therefore the mouse, too, is a divine creature. . . . [F]or its kind it has a very beautiful form--such pretty feet and such delicate hair that it is clear that it was created by the word of God with a definite plan in view. Therefore here, too, we admire God's creation and workmanship. The same thing may be said about flies." (Luther's Lectures on Genesis, Chapters 1-5).

Luther on animals as praising God better than humans:

"All animals live in contentment and serve God, loving and praising Him. Only the evil, villainous eye of man is never satisfied, nor can it ever be really satisfied because of its ingratitude and pride. It always wants the best place at the feast as the chief guest (Luke 14:8); it is not willing to honor God, but would rather be honored by God." (Luther's Sermons on the Sermon on the Mount).

Luther on animals as having more compassion for their fellows than humans:

"Wild beasts and irrational animals keep this law. When a pig is slaughtered or captured and other pigs see this, we observe that the other pigs clamor and grunt as if in compassion. Chickens and geese and all wild animals do the same thing; when they see one of their own kind in trouble, they quite naturally grieve with it and are sad, and if they can, they help it. Only man, who after all is rational, does not spring to the aid of his suffering neighbor in time of need and has no pity on him. What a shame and scandal!" (Luther's Sermons I).

Luther on dogs in heaven:

In his lectures on Genesis Luther writes, "animals. . . live only their animal life, without hope of eternal life" (Lectures on Genesis, Chapters 1-5). Yet Luther loved his canine companion Tölpel very much, and did not believe that so faithful a friend could be excluded from heaven. Asked whether he expected to find dogs in heaven, Luther replied, "Certainly, for there the earth will not be without form and void. Peter said that the last day would be the restitution of all things. God will create a new heaven and a new earth and new Tölpels with hide of gold and fur of silver. God will be all in all; and snakes, now poisonous because of original sin, will then be so harmless that we shall be able to play with them" (Table Talk of Martin Luther, DCCXCVII).

Luther on why we shouldn't eat animals:

"It follows not, that because God created all things, we must eat of all things. Fruits were created chiefly as food for people and for beasts; the latter were created to the end we should laud and praise God." (Table Talk of Martin Luther, CXXXI).

Further resources:

Bainton, Roland H. 1957. "Luther on Birds, Dogs, and Babies: Gleanings from the 'Table Talk,'" pp. 3-12 in Luther Today: Martin Luther Lectures, Vol. 1. Decorah, Iowa: Luther College Press.

Ickert, Scott. 1988. "Luther and Animals: Subject to Adam's Fall?" pp. 90-99 in Andrew Linzey and Dorothy Yamamoto, eds., Animals on the Agenda: Questions about Animals for Theology and Ethics. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.