This course examines food systems and eating practices in light of Christian faith traditions. Our aim will be to develop a theological framework and set of practices that honor God and contribute to a peaceable creation and a just society through our eating. To accomplish this goal we will consider and critique current food economies in terms of how well they promote the health of bodies and creation’s memberships. We will examine the Eucharist as an important Christian site for the evaluation of eating practices. We will also consider how eating is a powerful lens into a deeper understanding of life and death and the character of God and creation. A number of topics will be covered in this class, ranging from food distribution and eating disorders to vegetarianism and fasting. Scripture often situates important encounters and learning around table fellowship. This class will encourage us to develop forms of fellowship that participate in and witness to God’s kingdom.
Required Texts:
Robert Farrar Capon. The Supper of the Lamb (Random)
Michael Pollan. The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Penguin)
Norman Wirzba. Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating (Cambridge)
Sara Miles. Take This Bread (Ballantine)
Leslie Leyland Fields. The Spirit of Food (Cascade)
Selected Essays will be put on Sakai.
Course Schedule:
Week 1– Introductions & Thinking theologically about food (Wirzba, 1-34; Capon, 1-52, 83-97, 109-131, 167-191)
Week 2 – What is food? (Wirzba, 35-70; Fields, 39-45, 70-82, 111-143; Hughes, “Soul, Black Women, and Food”)
Week 3– Understanding today’s agriculture & industrial food system (Pollan, 1-273)
Week 4– Understanding today’s agriculture & industrial food system (cont.) (Wirzba, 71-102)
Week 5– Eating Disorders (Wirzba, 102-109, Susan Bordo, “Anorexia Nervosa”; Fields, 180-18)
Week 6– “Fresh”
Week 7– Food Justice (Boucher, “Food Democracy”; “Manifesto on the Future of Food”; “Manifesto on the Future of Seed”; “Structural Food Racism”)
Week 8– CEFS Maya Wiley Lecture on “Building a Just Food System”
Week 9– Eating Together (Wirzba, 144-178; Miles, 1-280; Yoder, “Eating Together” in Body Politics; Fields, 200-207, 219-222, 228-234)
Week 10– READING WEEK
Week 11– Eating Together (cont.) (Northcott, “Faithful Feasting”)
Week 12– Eating Meat? (Wirzba, 110137; Adams, “Sexual Politics of Meat”; Rudy, “Meat and Feminism”)
Week 13– Fasting & Feasting (Wirzba, 137143; Caroline Walker Bynum, “Fast, Feast, and Flesh”; Fields, 160-179, 190-199)
Week 14– What is eating for? (Wirzba, 179-234; Berry, “The Idea of a Local Economy”; Fields, 144-148)