Domestication is not just something that humans impose on animals, but an ancient structure binding both creatures within shared systems of subjugation. Advancing trenchant new ideas, David Carr unpacks Genesis 1–11 to reveal ways in which embedded human–animal, gender, and group hierarchies constitute our world. Drawing on animal studies and Indigenous perspectives alike, he treats the Bible's origin stories as an invitation to rethink inter-species flourishing and re-imagine community based on intrinsic worth rather than mere utility. Tracing human rule over creation in Eden to slavery and concentrated human power at Babel, the author exposes an escalating trajectory of domination. Yet these foundational stories also suggest that global subjugation is not inevitable, but instead the consequence of a fall from an earlier relational, reciprocal mode of living. Here is a hopeful framework that recognizes this crisis while offering alternatives rooted in respectful relations and multispecies kinship.

‘This important book by David M. Carr shows how the stories in Genesis about our relations with animals, especially domesticated animals, undergird the Bible's views about our relations with God, with other humans, and with the earth. It will be required reading for anyone who wishes to grasp the Bible's impact on our treatment of animals and of one another, as well as our understanding of ourselves.'

Ken Stone - Chicago Theological Seminary

‘David M. Carr's Unmaking Eden is a brilliant, eye-opening rereading of Genesis. By unmasking the ancient roots of human domination, this vital book empowers us to embrace Indigenous wisdom and cultivate deep, multispecies kinship.'

Carmen Lansdowne - Emmanuel College