The Wisdom of Animals: Creatureliness in Early Modern French Spirituality

About the Author, Back Cover

CATHARINE RANDALL is senior lecturer in religion at Dartmouth College. She is the author of a number of books, including Black Robes and Buckskin: A Selection from the “Jesuit Relations” and From a Far Country: Camisards and Huguenots in the Atlantic World. “Here is a book that breathes and inspires: terse and compelling, every page written with flair and force, The Wisdom of Animals reaches into the past to remind us that we are animals and that we must commit our faith to the world that, by no casual miracle, it is a gift for us to inhabit. Randall’s informed and sustained readings of a panoply of early modern writers tell us, in both their words and hers, why the intricate webbings of our ecosphere must be nurtured and cherished. Weaving together literature, theology, and philosophy, she affirms over and again how and why animal wisdom is vital for the present and future of our imperiled planet.” —TOM CONLEY, Abbot Lawrence Lowell Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University “Catharine Randall has written an informative, erudite, and convincing study of the complexity of thought concerning animals in the early modern period, and the importance of theological perspectives for that thought. The Wisdom of Animals: Creatureliness in Early Modern French Spirituality is an original contribution to the field, and is of potential interest not only to scholars of early modern French history and literature, but also to readers interested in religious studies, the history of animality, and the antecedents to current discussions of the status and rights of animals.” —KATHLEEN PERRY LONG, Cornell University CATHARINE RANDALL is senior lecturer in religion at Dartmouth College. She is the author of a number of books, including Black Robes and Buckskin: A Selection from the “Jesuit Relations” and From a Far Country: Camisards and Huguenots in the Atlantic World. UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 • undpress.nd.edu ...