What is it to be authentically human? For the dominant discourse, it is to be at the centre of the world, sovereign over animals. For subordinate discourses, to be authentically human is to recognise our place as an animal among animals. Nonconformist discourse rejected both alternatives. It considered that to be authentically human is neither to be head of a hierarchy, nor to be absorbed into the unity of one among many, but as a fellow musician, to conduct creation’s song. Humans and other animals have an ontological continuity as creatures, and a diversity of voice as singers. Humans can partner with the diverse voices of non-human others, in a co-creation and co-sustaining of song. Nonconformist discourse opened a space for a novel ethic towards animals to consolidate. One that shifted the emphasis from a disorderliness in the Chain of Being, or a lack of rationality, to the particular animals themselves, and the human duty to enable all creatures to bring glory to God. Yet it is not a discourse blind to the cruelty we see all around us. Humans have marred the harmony of creation, and it groans. But nonconformist discourse found restoration themes in the biblical texts. How, they asked, do humans conduct a groaning choir.