Wabash Religion Professor Stephen H. Webb ’83 was the first invited speaker at Calvin College’s Animals and the Kingdom of God Lecture Series. Webb inaugurated the series, endowed for 10 years, which celebrates mankind's role as caretakers of creation.
Webb’s talk, "A Christian Case for Compassion for Animals," was presented January 18 at Calvin’s DeVose Communication Center.
"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," said lecture organizer Matt Halteeman, a professor of philosophy at Calvin. "He’s one of the leading voices for animal compassion in contemporary Christian theology."
Webb’s speech kicked off Calvin’s Wake Up Weekend, "a two-day celebration of animal compassion," which was a conference focused on animal advocacy at the Grand Rapids, Michigan campus.
Webb has written two books on the topic of animal rights, On God and Dogs (Oxford Press) and Good Eating (Brazos Press), and has been featured in a number of syndicated newspaper articles on the topic. He is the co-founder of the Christian Vegetarian Association.