Eating As a Sacred Act: an Intellectual And Gustatory Exploration of Food and Faith

Catalog description

The fundamental aim of this course will be to articulate a theology of eating. In many ways, food is a simple thing. Someone grows it; someone prepares and eats it. But in reality, food/eating is perhaps one of the most complicated of human acts since it involves so many facets of creation and human ingenuity. Eating does not merely fill our bellies. Eating has a transcendent dimension to it as well. In the Christian tradition, there exists an obvious connection to Eucharist, eating, that leads to communion through creation, humanity and ultimately God. Food and eating will be viewed through multiple academic lenses: theological (principally), ritual, sacramental, cultural, agricultural, ecological, and moral. The aim is to lead the student to a deeper awareness of this ordinary but complex act that joins one to the entire cosmos. There will also be a gustatory component in which the student will explore the local food shed that will include shared meals.