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Good News for All Creation

Stephen R. Kaufman and Nathan Braun
Vegetarian Advocates Press, 2002

Reviewed by Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

When my book Judaism and Vegetarianism was first published in 1982, I encouraged Christian vegetarians to build on my book’s arguments to write a book on Christianity and vegetarianism. Initially I had little success, and some even told me that a vegetarian case could not be based on Christian teachings. Fortunately, many have disproved this contention, and there has been a flood of books connecting Christianity and vegetarianism by many writers, including Reverends Andrew Linzey, Regina Hyland, and Gary Kowalski, and Keith Akers and Steven Webb.

Good News for All Creation is a worthy addition to these books. Stephen Kaufman and Nathan Braun very clearly and succinctly give all the reasons why Christians should be vegetarians. Their case can be summarized in their statement: "By attempting to show the greatest possible respect for Creation, we believe, we magnify and glorify the Creator, we participate in God’s sanctification of all life, and we assist God’s reconciling all Creation to a peaceful, vegetarian world. Because meat eating contributes to environmental degradation and harms creatures whose spark of life, we believe, comes from God, every meal in which we abstain from flesh becomes a prayerful expression of love and respect for God."

Both authors practice what they preach, as indicated by their active involvement and leadership in the Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA) (Mr. Braun is the founder and Dr. Kaufman, a physician, is the organization's medical director) and their many efforts to reach out to others with their message.

Among the many valuable features in the book are a chapter that discusses how vegetarians can respond to challenges they face in a meat-eating society and appendices that offer advice for dealing with non-vegetarian family and friends, suggest strategies for promoting vegetarianism within the Christian community, summarize nutritional basics (including how vegetarians can get adequate protein, calcium, iron, vitamins, and other nutrients) and provide information on groups, books, magazines, Internet sites, and other resources relevant to Christianity and vegetarianism.

As a non-Christian who found this book very interesting, informative, and well-argued and documented, I strongly recommend it to both Christians and non-Christians.

The book can be ordered from the Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA) (www.christianveg.com).

Richard H. Schwartz is author of Judaism and Vegetarianism and Judaism and Global Survival. He has over 100 articles related to vegetarianism.


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