Eat Less Meat: A New Ecological Imperative for Christian Ethics?

Abstract

Awareness of the large contribution made by livestock production to global warming is growing rapidly. In response, John Barclay has developed an important Pauline call for greatly reducing meat consumption. The case from scripture can be strengthened by attending to the rich history of weekly, seasonal and occasional meat abstention in secular Christian society, which was grounded in a collective literal reading of both Testaments and a desire to enter into the life of Christ. In monasteries, moreover, red meat was prohibited. In the present-day context, these traditions of lived biblical interpretation need to be recovered and rearticulated.