Calvin Debuts New Lecture Series

January 9, 2008 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Summary: On January 18, Calvin College will debut a new lecture series that
will engage questions concerning the just and merciful treatment of animals
from a faith perspective.

Full story see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2007-08/animals-and-the-kingdom-of-god.html
 

Dr. Stephen H. Webb will give the inaugural address of the Animals and the
Kingdom of God Lecture Series, held at 7:30 pm on Friday, January 18 at the
Bytwerk Theater in the DeVos Communication Center at Calvin College.

Annual lectures in this new series will engage questions concerning the just
and merciful treatment of animals from a faith perspective.

“We think Stephen Webb is an excellent choice for the inaugural lecture of
this series,” said Matt Halteman, Calvin philosophy professor and
administrator of the interdisciplinary committee that selected the speaker.
“He is one of the leading voices for animal compassion in contemporary
Christian theology.”

Webb, a conservative Christian theologian and professor at Wabash College in
Crawfordsville, Indiana, will speak on “A Christian Case for Compassion for
Animals.”

“Webb articulates the importance of compassion for animals as a crucial
element of God’s broader call to care for creation, and that holistic message
fits well with our outlook here at Calvin,” Halteman said.

That idea was the founding principle of the Animals and the Kingdom of God
Lecture Series, which was funded by a friend of the college for 10 years to
bring concern for animals under the larger tent of creation care that already
exists at Calvin.

While he is at Calvin, Webb will also participate in Wake Up Weekend, a yearly
Grand Rapids gathering of animal advocacy organizations—Grand Rapids for
Animals; VegMichigan; Animals and Society Institute and the Calvin organization
Students for Compassionate Living, among them—which is organized by Halteman
and Calvin professor of art Adam Wolpa.

For sale that weekend will be a special commemorative edition of the booklet
Living Toward the Peaceable Kingdom: Compassionate Eating as Care of Creation.
The text of the booklet was authored by Halteman for a series published by the
new Animals and Religion division of the Humane Society of the United States.
The commemorative edition of the booklet is illustrated with 15 collages
created by Wolpa.

Contact Halteman at 616-526-6726

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Received on Tue Jan 8 23:10:20 2008