Jane Goodall (1934-2025), famed for her decades-long study of chimpanzees and for her advocacy of animal rights and environmentalism, passed away on October 1, 2025, at the age of 91. Christians should have no trouble appreciating her legitimate and significant contributions to our knowledge about chimpanzees and other primates. Goodall observed that chimps made and used rudimentary tools (e.g., stripping a twig of leaves and using it to extract insects from a nest) and that they exhibited emotions and sociality. Gaining fuller and more accurate knowledge about the animal kingdom helps us to clarify what we have in common with animals and what makes us truly unique. At the same time, we may be saddened by the fact that Goodall promoted a mystical, more or less pantheistic conception of the world in which the divine is in all things, excluding the reality of a transcendent Creator with whom we need above all to have a loving relationship.
While Goodall made a genuine contribution to our understanding of primates, she interpreted her experiences among the chimpanzees in a way that minimized the uniqueness of human beings in relation to the rest of creation. What makes humans unique is not the use of tools, but the ability to conceptualize tools and to think about the significance of tool-making. We are unique not in having emotions or feelings but in having the capacity to view our feelings from a standpoint outside our experience. Ultimately, these differences arise from our unique status as biological creatures with the capacity to transcend the biological—a capacity that is integral to what the Bible calls the image of God. Our failures to reflect God’s goodness in the world, in our relationships with each other and with other living things, cannot be overcome by getting closer to nature but by getting reconciled to God, which is precisely what Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, came into our world to do for us.
Regrettably, Goodall’s admirably persistent pursuit of nature did not lead her to a similar pursuit of nature’s Creator. While she rejected atheism, she did not consider herself a Christian (or anything else specifically) and was content to believe in an undefined spiritual power in all things. Essentially, her spirituality was akin to the animism illustrated in the 1995 Disney animated film Pocahontas, especially in the song “Colors of the Wind.” Animals and trees all have souls or spirits (apparently no different than ours) and nature itself is alive. We can and should have an attitude of respect and responsible stewardship toward living things without divinizing nature.
Below are a number of resources of relevance to understanding, appreciating, and assessing the thought of Jane Goodall. Some of these resources support her beliefs while others take issue with them. Osborne’s article in the Smithsonian Magazine might be the best place to start. It is important, as always, to understand before we criticize (Prov. 18:13). Continue reading →