The Divine Life of Animals

Starred review from May 17, 2010
Guideposts writer Tompkins (The Beaten Path) tackles the puzzling question of animal afterlife in this delightfully insightful and well-researched narrative. As a 12-year-old boy, Tompkins found a scraggly, malnourished dog on the Yucatán peninsula and fed him despite his adult chaperones’ advice against it; for years, he pondered the fate of the affectionate creature. As an adult, Tompkins loses his beloved rabbit Angus yet continues to feel his presence around his home. With this loss, he indulges his curiosities about the animal soul and discovers that people of all faiths and across history have had different insights about the same perplexing questions of the animal spirit world. Tompkins’s book is incredibly entertaining while it also raises deep ethical questions about our human understanding of the animal soul. From animal ghosts and reincarnation to visions, the book uses a panreligious and historical methodology to challenge the reader to disbelieve the divine transcendence of our furry, scaly, and even slimy friends in nature. Compellingly, he makes the cogent argument that the enriching bond between man and beast suggests more than an earthly existence for both.