/lit/ - Literature

>>12484288
Man is created in the image of God, thus he is God's viceroy in earth, he is altogether above and apart from animals. However man reduced himself to an animal by turning against God; when God says to man after the fall that He will ordain enmity between man and animal, God is saying I am revoking your authority (or at least seriously curtailing it) over beasts because you have debased yourself into a beast. Stories about extremely holy ascetics often depict dangerous animals as totally passive toward them, which is illustrating that the saint has achieved a state of true humanity. An OT example is Noah. Another is Elijah, who was brought food by crows