Philip Johnson has shared lifelong experiences with companion animals. In 2005 he and his wife Ruth outlined a theological and legal understanding of our responsibilities toward animals in a paper called “Animals Matter to God”. After reading that paper David Rutledge of the ABC radio programme Encounter interviewed Philip about Christian views on animals. Philip has been a guest lecturer at Morling College for many years and is known for his co-written books in apologetics, theology, missions and new religious movements: The Cross is not Enough, Riding the Rollercoaster, Jesus and the gods of the New Age, Beyond Prediction, Beyond the Burning Times and Religious and Non-Religious Spirituality in the Western World (“New Age”). He has also contributed chapters to several books including Encountering New Religious Movements, Tough-Minded Christianity, Baker Dictionary of Cults, Australian Stories for the Soul, and Australian Stories for the Heart. He is a founding co-editor of the e-journal Sacred Tribes Journal. He holds the BA and BD from the University of Sydney, and an MTh from the Australian College of Theology. In 2005 as an audit-only candidate he completed course-work in Australia’s inaugural post-graduate elective in Animal Law at the University of NSW. Readers can “follow” his writings on-line at http://independent.academia.edu/JohnsonPhilip

For further correspondence contact: animalsmattertogod AT y7mail.com

Also see his other blog: http://thecrossisnotenough.wordpress.com/