Animals and The Kingdom of God - Bruce Friedrich

Bruce Friedrich presents the 9th annual Animals and the Kingdom of God lecture, "The Kingdom of God is Within You: Diet as an Invocation of Christ." Friedrich is executive director of The Good Food Institute.

In “The Kingdom of God is Within You: Diet as an Invocation of Christ,” Bruce Friedrich explains his reasons for believing that a plant-based diet best aligns with Biblical principles of stewardship of the earth, concern for the poor, treating our bodies as temples and compassion for animals. By making our dining decisions from a commitment to seek God's Kingdom in all four of these areas, Friedrich argues, we can take steps toward eating in a way that serves as an invocation of Christ and that follows—at every meal—St. Paul’s counsel to “pray without ceasing.”

Bruce Friedrich is executive director of The Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit organization that promotes plant and culture-based alternatives to animal agriculture, and founding partner of New Crop Capital (NCC), a venture capital firm that provides angel, seed, and Series A funding to companies that are producing plant-based and cultured alternatives to meat, dairy, and eggs, as well to tech startups that are focused on promoting alternatives to animal agriculture.

Before getting interested in animal protection, Bruce ran a homeless shelter and soup kitchen in inner city Washington, D.C., for 6 years. He has been a progressive activist for more than 25 years.

Bruce graduated manga cum laude, Order of the Coif, from the Georgetown University Law Center and Phi Beta Kappa from Grinnell College. He also holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Learn more about Calvin College:
https://calvin.edu/wonderon/