2016 Annual Conference: Christians and Other Animals
Animals have rarely loomed larger as a topic of Christian concern. In Pope Francis's 2015 encyclical Laudato Si, he emphasized St Francis’s concern for the humblest creatures, stated that all creatures were on a journey with humans towards the common point of arrival that is God, and that cruelty towards animals was contrary to human dignity. Soon afterwards, major US evangelical churches, including the Southern Baptists, signed up to the new statement on animals ‘Every Living Thing’. Global per capita consumption of animals continues to rise, with 77 billion birds and mammals and 2.5-6.8 trillion fish killed for food in 2014. Farmed animal practice continues to become more intensive, half of all fish now derive from fish farms, and new warnings have been issued about wild fish stocks. Use of animals on this scale is recognized as problematic for greenhouse gas emissions, human food and water security, environmental degradation, antibiotic resistance, and other aspects of human health.
Attending to the ethics of human practice in relation to other animals in a Christian context is therefore timely and important. We invite papers that treat fundamental aspects of constructing the human and non-human in a theological context, that interrogate theological and philosophical moral theory in relation to animals, or that treat particular ethical issues in relation to human use of animals. We hope that the conference will set a new benchmark for Christian discussion of this topic, and will be a valuable opportunity for participants to engage in dialogue concerning the many theoretical and practical challenges it raises.
Plenary Speakers will include:
- Carol Adams (writer and activist, author of "The Sexual Politics of Meat")
- David Clough (University of Chester and SSCE President)
- Ellen Davis (Duke Divinity School)
- Donovan Schaefer (Oxford)
- Special panel (details TBA)
We are also pleased to announce that on Friday 9 September the SSCE will be co-hosting a special exhibition in the Study Room at the Fitzwilliam Museum on the conference theme.
Jesus Lane
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB5 8BP
United Kingdom
| Fully Residential - earlybird | |
| Band C | £275.00 |
| Band B | £240.00 |
| Band A | £150.00 |
| Plenary Speaker/Host | £0.00 |
| Fully Residential | |
| Band C | £350.00 |
| Band B | £275.00 |
| Band A | £175.00 |
| Band C - Non-res. | |
| Fri | £85.00 |
| Sat | £120.00 |
| Sun | £80.00 |
| Band B - Non-res. | |
| Fri | £75.00 |
| Sat | £110.00 |
| Sun | £70.00 |
| Band A - Non-res. | |
| Fri | £65.00 |
| Sat | £100.00 |
| Sun | £60.00 |
| Band C - Visitor | |
| Fri | £55.00 |
| Sat | £55.00 |
| Sun | £55.00 |
| Band B - Visitor | |
| Fri | £45.00 |
| Sat | £45.00 |
| Sun | £45.00 |
| Band A - Visitor | |
| Fri | £35.00 |
| Sat | £35.00 |
| Sun | £35.00 |
| Extra Night’s Accommodation | |
| Thursday evening | £40.00 |
| Sunday evening | £40.00 |
| Thursday Evening (comp.) | £0.00 |
| Double Accommodation Suppl. | |
| Thursday | £25.00 |
| Friday | £25.00 |
| Saturday | £25.00 |
| Sunday | £25.00 |
| Support for Assisted Places | |
| Bronze | £25.00 |
| Silver | £50.00 |
| Gold | £100.00 |
| Platinum | £250.00 |
| Fully Residential - Band A (75% Bursary) | £62.50 |