Two Animal Theologians at a Flesh and Blood Theologies Conference. Reported by Chapman Chen
- Chapman Chen
- Apr 11
- 2 min read
A Flesh and Blood Theologies Conference was held by the SST (Society for the Study of Theology) at the University of Warwick on 7–10 April. Both Prof. David Clough, Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Chester, and I presented on the same day (8 April) in the same room. We were probably the only vegan and animal theologians at the conference.
Prof. Clough’s topic was “Theology in the Slaughterhouse.” He presented the flesh-and-blood reality of the slaughterhouse via a new first-person report of a site visit. He vividly described workers taking “the toll of herding fellow creatures up the kill chute, then stunning them, hanging them up by a hind leg, cutting their throats, skinning them, eviscerating them, and dismembering them, all done at the fixed impatient pace of the mechanised line.” He argued that “a Christian refusal to contemplate the human and non-human fleshy and bloody realities of the slaughterhouse while consuming the packaged flesh it produces seems a clear example of bad faith.”
My topic was “No Sacrifice of Flesh and Blood, Animal or Human, is Required to Forgive Our Sins.” I argued that Jesus’ crucifixion (NT) isn’t a substitutionary sacrifice but a call upon us to follow His example, pick up His cross, and share in His righteous sufferings and resurrection (1 Peter 2:21–24) (Rillera 2024). I contended that animal sacrifice in the OT is loathed by God, and that the original Eucharist serves as a vegan communal meal of bread and wine, offering a glimpse of the reunion in Heaven (Tabor 2012; Chilton 2011). It’s Paul, the anti-vegan apostate, who turned Jesus into the very thing He was protesting—a sacrificial lamb. I concluded that animal sacrifice, the Pauline cannibalistic Eucharist, and meatism—bloody sacrifice to the belly-idol—are the same cult (Hyland 1998).
Prof. Clough’s most important works on animal rights are On Animals: Systematic Theology, Vol. I and Vol. II (2011), in which he argues that the purpose of creation is neither anthropocentric nor entirely for God’s sake, but rather God’s fellowship with creatures. He points out that by way of incarnation, God steps over the boundary between creator and creation and takes on flesh, which is common to both humans and animals.
During the conference, Prof. Clough, in reply to my questions, said that the directors of Christspiracy have defeated their purpose, and that the movie can only cater to a tiny niche of vegan Christians. He remarked that there’s no convincing evidence to prove that Jesus was/is vegan; and he opined that Jesus ate fish and lamb, just that those animals were not intensively farmed in those days. Neither did he believe that Paul was a mole sent by the Roman Empire to corrupt Jesus’ vegan church from the inside out. Basically, he’s of the view that denouncing the mainstream church is not a very wise strategy to promote veganism. I responded that we agree to disagree, and thanked him for speaking on behalf of helpless, innocent creatures of God. #VeganChist #VeganGod #VeganChurch #VeganTheology
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