How can one’s diet be a witness? How did the early church define fasting? How might one practice Christian vegetarianism? Stephen H. Webb addresses these and other questions in Good Eating. Without a hint of moral superiority, Webb advocates cultivating a biblical view of animals and practicing compassionate stewardship of them. He develops the "first modern systematic theology of diet," touching on topics such as animal sacrifices, the Lord’s supper, pacifism, and the place for animals in heaven.

Because we make eating-related choices every day, this timely and original study will be of interest to all Christians seeking to practice a conscious faith in daily life. It holds particular appeal for animal lovers, animal rights activists, vegetarians, those who struggle with dieting and weight loss, and anyone interested in ethics, Christian witness, and socially conscientious discipleship.

Good Eating is the first entry in Brazos Press’s The Christian Practice of Everyday Life series. Series editors are David S. Cunningham and Williiam T. Cavanaugh.

Should contemporary Christians ever fast? What should Christian parents think when their kids come home from college as vegetarians? What should Christians believe when a beloved pet dies? For every question involving Christian faith, food, and animals, Webb offers historical insight, thoughtful analysis, and good common sense, all presented in an accessible style with both passion and good humor. — William C. Placher, Wabash College

Webb’s work provides the most readable, most convincing, and most up-to-date case for Christians taking a vegetarian diet seriously as an expression of their faith. Webb expounds a broad, rich account of vegetarianism as a distinctively Christian practice. He draws on warrants from biblical and patristic theology to ground his Christian vegetarianism, then helps explain the disappearance of the practice in post-Reformation Europe and America. He sends his readers an invitation to consider a renewed vegetarian Christianity in the context of rival approaches to vegetarianism and to theologizing about animals, proposing a vital appreciation for humanity’s harmonious coexistence with animals in God’s peaceable kingdom.–A. K. M. Adam, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary