Eschatological Communion: Human and Nonhuman Animals in Light of Evolution

Scientifically engaged theologies struggle to include a cohesive eschatology in light of empirical projections of mass extinction and the potential death of the cosmos. On the one hand, Denis Edwards argues for a noninterventionist account of resurrection that coheres with evolutionary origins. On the other hand, animal theologies tend to neglect eschatology or engage in speculation. This article argues that eschatology requires a scientifically coherent account of creation. Therefore, it proposes that eschatology for both human and nonhuman participants must be communally grounded along evolutionary lines. Using Buber's intersubjectivity and evolutionary accounts of theology, it concludes that since eschatological life is relationally constituted within an evolutionary community, then in order to maintain continuity of identity, eschatological relationships are contingent upon the evolutionary relationships established pre-eschaton.