Scientific assertions about our shared origins with other species and shared dependence on global ecosystems are often resisted and even dismissed on the grounds that humans are different from all other beings in both degree and kind. We presume we are intellectually and morally superior to all other creatures. We might even be accused of worshipping humanity.

Anne Primavesi looks at ways that the Christian inheritance has contributed to or limited respect for biodiversity and asks: How is our common perception of God at variance with Jesus’ own understanding of our Father’s ‘kingdom’? Would a better appreciation of the God of Jesus inspire us to cultivate unity through reverence for diversity? How do we respond to the fact that Jesus suffered a violent death but did not inflict violence on any living being?

She finds answers in biblical stories such as the conversions of Cornelius and Peter in Acts, the parable of the prophet Jonah, the stories of Jesus’ testing in the desert, his prophetic reading in the synagogue in Nazareth; his encounter with the Samaritan woman and, above all, in his use of parable.