Founder and Director

Professor Emeritus Dr. Lisa Kemmerer is a globally recognized leader in the field of animal ethics, including religious ethics and animals. With decades of experience as both an activist and an academic, Kemmerer combines scholarship with feet-on-the-ground to bring tangible change.

Dr. Kemmerer has published thirteen books and more than 100 articles, all of which advocate for animal liberation through the disciplines of ethics, whether in the fields of religious studies, environmental studies, or social justice studies (including the full range of systems of oppression). She has also disarmed illegal traps in Kenya, lobbied government officials for policy change in India, and released animals from traps in Montana, where traps are still legal. She has offered talks and guided discussions throughout North America and also in South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Combining academic rigor, a global perspective, and an activist’s determination, Dr. Kemmerer has taken on the gigantic, long-overdue project of creating a website on animal ethics that speaks to religious communities worldwide. Kemmerer’s groundbreaking Animals and World Religions (Oxford) provides a foundation for Tapestry’s Animals & Religion Website, and puts Dr. Kemmerer in a unique position to create this complex and much-needed resource. In the words of Matthew Halteman, Ph.D. (Professor of Philosophy, Calvin University),

“Kemmerer has three qualifications that put her in a class of one . . . : a decades-long record of groundbreaking research, a decades-long record of on-the-ground animal advocacy, and a tested commitment . . . [to] forming relationships within a variety of religious traditions.”