Nonconformist Perspectives on Animals and Language: Speaking for the Voiceless

This book explores how seventeenth-century nonconformist Christian discourse gave animals a voice in public life, challenging dominant anthropocentric narratives. Drawing on historical, theological, and ethical perspectives, Philip J. Sampson traces a subjugated language of resistance that once shaped institutions such as the RSPCA and continues to offer incisive critiques of contemporary practices including hunting, warfare, animal experimentation, and meat consumption. Envisioning creation as song, the book reimagines human-animal relations as co-creative and mutually vulnerable, offering a compelling alternative to both instrumentalist and zoocentric frameworks. Engaging with biblical texts and historical voices, Sampson uncovers a rich tradition of animal advocacy rooted in kindness, sacrifice, and restoration. This interdisciplinary study will appeal to scholars and students in animal ethics, theology, religious studies, and early modern history, as well as practitioners and advocates seeking new ethical resources for contemporary debates.

Philip J. Sampson is a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and a consultant editor for the Journal of Animal Ethics. His previous book, Animal Ethics and the Nonconformist Conscience (2018), is widely used in environmental ethics courses and informs this sequel volume.