Canine Ministries:Co‐Instrumentalityof Human and Dog in a Christian Ontology

Abstract

SUMMARYWithin the last century, US Americans have come to humanize dogs and place a greater personal value on them than ever before. In response to this cultural change, some US Christians have begun to use therapy dogs in ministry work. For this exploratory study, six chaplains in a canine ministry share their experiences and beliefs about their use of therapy dogs. Their stories reveal a unique form of human‐animal partnership emergent in contemporary society distinguished by a faith‐based context. The chaplain and ministry dog act together as co‐instruments of God, both being subject and object simultaneously. The dogs occupy an ontologically complex position of being subordinate to humans while also embodying virtues that Christians idealize. This paper focuses on the chaplains’ conceptualization of the relationality between themselves, their dogs, and God. Their accounts reveal changing perceptions of what it means to be human vis‐a‐vis our relationship with animals. [multispecies ethnography, dogs, religion, Christianity, ontology]