Please join the ISSRNC in San Antonio for the

Ecology, Nature, and Religion Reception

Friday, November 17th | 7:30—9:30pm

The Westin Riverwalk| Olivares Meeting Room

Light fare will be provided and alcohol will be available for purchase.

Discussion on “Food, Faith, and Ethics” with: Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter & Dr. Catherine Newell

Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter

The Spirit of Soul Food: Race, Faith, and Food Justice

Soul food has played a critical role in preserving Black history, community, and culinary genius. It is also a response to–and marker of–centuries of food injustice. Given the harm that our food production system inflicts upon Black people, what should soul food look like today? Carter’s answer to that question merges a history of Black American foodways with a Christian ethical response to food injustice. Carter reflects on how people of color can eat in a way that reflects their cultural identities while remaining true to the principles of compassion, love, justice, and solidarity with the marginalized.

Dr. Catherine Newell

Food Faiths: Case Studies in Science-Based Spiritual Eating

Newell’s most recent book, Food Faiths: Diet, Religion, and the Science of Spiritual Eating (Lexington 2023), explores how individuals internalize scientific knowledge about health and diet, and then incorporate that information into their lives as the basis of a personal, diet-based spiritual practice. These diets are based in diverse sciences such as anthropology, ecology, nutritional studies, biomedicine, and physiology, but adherents view their diet as a lifestyle, a path to enlightenment, and a nebulously defined point of “health.” Newell highlights the ways practitioners position themselves in relation to other members of their community, to older traditions suffused with religious practice, and to understanding their praxis in relation to the entire biosphere.

View/Download event poster (PDF)