Following on our introduction to Dominion by Matthew Scully earlier this week, I'm grateful to share some further reflections on this incredibly compelling book from my friend Sarah Cunningham.  Sarah is a public high school teacher, a wife and recent mother for the first time, and the author of Dear Church and the just-released Picking Dandelions.  She's been blogging quite engagingly about animal issues herself of late ...

I’m addicted to reading.  Which means when I pick up a book, I selfishly insist the rest of the world freeze into a stationary backdrop so I can get lost in my new find.  I come up for air a day or two later, after pouring through it cover to cover.  But with some books, I have to force a slower pace, because something going on in the book is new or significant, or has the potential to change me if I let it.

I am always on the hunt for that next good read that challenges something inside me.  And 150 pages or so into it, I am wondering if Dominion by Matthew Scully (St. Martin's '02), which was passed onto me by my good friend Erik, might end up being that next important find.

Scully is a former speechwriter for George W., which might make him an unexpected candidate for pushing the more usually left-wing animal rights agenda.  But the book doesn’t present a political platform as much as it explores the moral dimensions surrounding the way society views animals.

The first few chapters have already driven me to do some research.  “Dominion,” for example, is a word used multiples times in the Old Testament (depending on translation).  It is most simply translated “to rule,” and usually referred to a leader’s actions toward a subordinate.  What doesn’t always come across in our English translation, though, is that the word “dominion” included the expectation that a master extend benevolence toward his subjects.

As you may know, there are two accounts of Creation (the first is in Genesis 1:1-2:7, and the other in Genesis 2:8-2:25).  The first account is a more linear, straightforward telling.  It follows a poetic formula, repeating phrases like “So the evening and the morning were the first day,” or “And God saw that it was good.”  This first account is where we see the word "dominion."

The term “dominion” in this case is the Hebrew verb “radah,” which means to “rule over.”  This word is used 27 times in the King James Version of the Bible.  Of these times:

• Several of them (for example, Leviticus 25:43, 25:46, 25:53) use the word “dominion” in a sentence that calls for “rule” over humans without harshness, severity or cruelty.
• Several of them (for example Leviticus 26:17, Nehemiah 9:28 and Isaiah 14:2) use the word “dominion” in reference to the rule of conquering enemies over a people group.
• Several (Psalm 49:14 and Psalm 72:8, and Isaiah 41:2) use the word “dominion” as a privilege given to those who are righteous or just.
• One (1 Kings 4:24) refers to the rule of Solomon, whose dominion is described as having “peace on all sides round about him.”
• One (Jeremiah 5:31) refers to the rule of priests.
• And one (Ezekiel 34:3) is a judgment on Israel for ruling with cruelty.

So what do you get from this list?  It seems we can at least say:

1. The word dominion did not include an implication of cruelty (as it was specifically mentioned in several verses that it should be exercised without cruelty).
2. Dominion was often given to those who acted justly.
3. Dominion could include not only aggressive “rule,” but times of “peace” or oversight by priests as well.
4. Some experts believe the word “dominion” means to “descend” or “go down” – implying the ruler goes down and walks among his subjects as a benevolent leader.  Sort of reminds you of Jesus, doesn't it?

What do you think?  What did God mean when he gave humans “dominion" over Creation?

(Many thanks to Sarah Cunningham for sharing the above, adapted from her posts "Dominion by Matthew Scully" & "27 Ways to Dominate" at SarahCunningham.org; more to come ...  Photo courtesy Daryl DeVries.)