55: Aaron Gruben on Christian veterinarians

I regularly search on Amazon for “veterinary business” and “veterinary management” and “business” books. Sometimes to buy, but usually, at first, to find new guests for a veterinary podcast.  

That’s how I stumbled into Aaron Gruben’s new book A Theology of Beasts: Christians and Veterinary Medicine. The book brought together two things that fascinate me: DVMs and divinity. I bought it. I read it. I liked it.

The first half of the book is Dr. Gruben’s deep dive into Christians he found in ancient and modern history who contributed to and focused on animal medicine. The back half is a collection of some philosophy and theology that Dr. Gruben has looked into that touch on how Christians can think about their place in the world as women and men of God whose ministry could include healing animals, soothing animals’ suffering, and modeling love for Creation to their clients. 

Those who might enjoy the book? Christian veterinarians, Christian pet owners, Christian agriculturalists, Christians with horses (early vet med is a lot of horses), and Christians with teenagers thinking about a career in veterinary medicine.  

Those who will enjoy the podcast? Anyone curious about vet med, animals and religion. 

Let’s dive in …  

To Feed Further Curiosity:  

• Dr. Gruben also writes time travel fiction and has developed curriculum focusing on chivalry. Chivalry, I wondered. Tell me more. So I asked, and he delivered, including book recommendations for someone who knows next to nothing about the Crusades. Then the author of one of the books Dr. Gruben read about the Crusades agreed to do a podcast interview with me. And then Dr. Gruben wrote me some questions to get me started in my interview with the guy who wrote the book Dr. Gruben liked. Convoluted? Sure. Amazing synchronicity? Heck yeah. That podcast interview, hopefully, will be coming soon ...