Toward a Theological Ethic of Creaturely Listening: Animal Theology in an Age of AI

Abstract

Advances in artificial intelligence are creating new possibilities for interpreting the communicative lives of non-human animals, prompting fresh ethical and theological questions about how such technologies ought to be received. This article develops a theological ethic of creaturely listening, arguing that the significance of AI-assisted animal communication lies less in its technical capabilities than in the moral formation it demands of those who employ it. Rather than treating communication as a problem of translation alone, the article contends that listening is a spiritual practice requiring humility, attentiveness, and solidarity with vulnerable creatures. To this end, it proposes three complementary practices that shape Christian engagement with emerging technologies: listening as a theological virtue, fasting as a discipline that interrupts the commodification of animals, and Sabbath as a practice of creaturely liberation that resists instrumentalization and cultivates receptive attention. Together, these practices offer a constructive theological framework for evaluating AI-assisted animal communication, suggesting that the Church’s primary task is not to discover new creaturely voices but to become a community capable of hearing (and responding to) the voices that have always been present. Listening becomes the primary moral orientation through which Christians discern and respond to the communicative claims of other creatures.