Food and God: A Theological Approach to Eating, Diet, and Weight Control

By Joel R. Soza

The central thesis of this book is that Western culture, and American culture in particular, needs an immediate change with regard to food and eating. Western over-indulgence is exacerbated by hunger and deprivation in the world. Learning to think theologically, and not just medically or psychologically, about one's eating habits will lead to positive personal and communal changes. In Food and God, Joel Soza offers readers a deeper understanding of Christian faith, one that will help them learn to think of eating as not merely a physical act, but as a spiritual exercise. Readers will become more aware of world need and preference for others while also learning how to improve their own health, control their own weight, and develop greater spiritual awareness and sensitivity in the daily and routine activity of eating. This book evaluates both Old and New Testaments, as well as some theology in the history of the Church, to arrive at an understanding of how one should think about food and eating in relationship to God and the world. The reader will learn of the key role food plays in the biblical creation and temptation narratives. They will learn of the enormous labor that went into food preparation in the ancient world, and what sages have had to say about food indulgence throughout time and many cultures. Finally, readers will encounter Jesus's invitation to think about food in spiritual ways, gaining an understanding as to what it means that Christianity is a movement with table fellowship at the forefront of its faith expression.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: May 13, 2009
• ISBN: 9781498274807

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Food and God

A Theological Approach to Eating, Diet,and Weight Control

Joel R. Soza

2008.WS_logo.jpg

Food and God

A Theological Approach to Eating, Diet, and Weight Control

Copyright © 2009 Joel R. Soza. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Wipf & Stock

A Division of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

ISBN 13: 978-1-60608-224-9

EISBN 13: 978-1-4982-7480-7

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Introduction

Chapter 1: Food and the Beginning of God’s Revelation

Chapter 2: Food and Eating in Ancient Israel

Chapter 3: Food and the Wisdom of Sages

Chapter 4: Food and Eating in the Life and Teaching of Jesus

Chapter 5: Food and Eating in the New Testament Church

Summary

Appendix

Bibliography

Dedicated to Joseph and Shari,

my children and my most precious gifts from God.

May you enjoy a long, healthy life

and many H days.

Introduction

F ood, glorious food is how I remember it. This line rang out in the opening song of the movie I was watching. It was the musical version of Charles Dickens’s classic mid-nineteenth-century tale Oliver Twist. Scores of young boys performed their song-and-dance routine in their work-house, orphanage environment longing to know what life would be like if they were able to grow fat, indulging in every assortment of food one could imagine. For most Americans today, this is not the problem. Instead, the concern is growing skinny, or at least trying to avoid the numerous quantities of food that surround us on every side and cause us as a nation to grow fat and unhealthy.

Besides the obvious weight problem and food obsession America has, which is clear from casual observation of physiques and body shapes in just about any public setting, there were numerous other promptings over time that also became an impetus for writing this book. For instance, while recently attempting to watch a film in a public theater, I found myself enormously distracted by a constant and consistent crunching sound coming from the back row. I turned my head just enough on a few occasions in a desperate, yet failed, attempt to alert the middle-aged husband and wife to the distraction they were causing as a result of perhaps over-enjoying their popcorn. In a similar fashion, I recall taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of a Major League Baseball stadium some years ago only to find that what fascinated me most was not the slow­-moving game, but rather the meticulous devouring by a young man of what surely must have been every available food item for sale in the stadium. I was sickened by both the expense he put out and the grease, calories, and cholesterol he put in.

On another occasion, I boarded a fairly unoccupied airplane for a cross-nation trip, only to discover, to my dismay, that my row and seat number landed me smack in between two very large and obese women of a particular religious order who each took up the space of one-and-a-half seats. Upon discovering that my much smaller frame was going in the seat between them, of which there was virtually nothing left, they looked me up and down as if to insinuate how rude it was of me to take the seat that I of course paid for, but which was basically now non-existent.

Speaking of airplanes, the numerous cross-Atlantic flights I had to take while studying in graduate school also afforded me the opportunity to witness firsthand the food and eating crisis that is very real in America and other Western nations as well. The movies provided some entertainment to pass the time, but I was more amused watching the flight attendants move from one task to the next to meet the demands of the passengers, each of which had to do with food and drink. I remember thinking to myself that continual filling of bowel and bladder of a few hundred people during eight hours of close-quarters inactivity thousands of feet above the surface of the earth was probably not such a good idea. Were we really that hungry? Although not aerodynamically trained, I began to calculate in my head what the load limit might be for the airplane and whether we had surpassed capacity since we started the trip. One television commercial recently advertised a fast-food product by applauding a man for boarding an airplane, in between two pretty women incidentally, with his extra-large, fully loaded grease burger and accessories, and the women, of course, as a consequence were drawn to the man and his meal. Does having the contents of an overstuffed burger falling on one’s lap get the attention of pretty women for a man? Would a person really board an airplane eating this way?

Ironically, I experienced this very thing after having penned these words. A man sat next to me on an airplane, having brought with him an extra-large burger and fries. He consumed it all before takeoff. All that was missing was the pretty women escorting him. Although eating like this would be the furthest thing from my mind in such a context, it may be more and more the norm for Americans. In fact, a recent television program discussed a growing (pun intended) problem the airline industry is encountering because the passenger weight average is increasing so much that customers may eventually have to purchase a ticket priced on their weight. Corporate America in general, as well as the public school and health care systems, are all facing serious issues in regard to America’s over-indulgence in food and Americans’ resulting weight problems. There has even been talk of a fat tax, which would raise the expense of non-nutritional fatty foods similar to extra taxes added to health risk items like tobacco and alcohol.

In a word, the thesis of this book is to challenge and provide a solution to America and the Christian Church in America in regard to food over-indulgence. If there is one statement to remember long after this book has been read, it would be, Think before you eat! This book attempts to get one to think theologically about food. Food is a provision from God and should be thought of as such every time consumption occurs. There are numerous good books about food that approach the topic from every conceivable viewpoint.¹ There are socio-cultural approaches, environmental approaches, nutritional and health approaches, aesthetic approaches, and that which moves most in a theological direction, ethical approaches. All of these provide invaluable insight into the way we go about purchasing, preparing, and consuming food, some of which have genuine theological concerns.² But this book is not one of those kinds of books, for all these approaches are ultimately inadequate in and of themselves. Instead, a theological understanding of food, based on a proper and systematic biblical foundation, is what America and the Christian Church in America need to consider in regard to this issue. This book is theological. By theological, I simply mean the logic of God on the topic from the standpoint of the Christian tradition.³ I am trying to explore what the nature, character, and thought of God, as ascertained from Scripture, might be when it comes to humans eating food.

Psychologists, anthropologists, naturalists, nutritionists, medical professionals, and even politicians are all beginning to have a say regarding the American fat and food epidemic. These are all helpful and necessary voices.⁴ But what is mostly needed is the prophetic voice of Scripture to call a nation to re-think that which it takes for granted. Israel’s prophets of antiquity in the Old Testament called for a nation to repent because of a variety of self-indulgent sins. Interestingly enough, sometimes judgment was to be exacted through a cutting off of Israel’s/Judah’s food supply (e.g., Amos 4:6 and Joel 1) as they had been forewarned (Deut 28:17). Stated quite simply today, America and the Christian Church therein are in need of theological renewal in the area of food and eating. A less-sophisticated way to express it is to say repent, which simply means to turn around and go in a different direction. It is the hope of this book that in bringing people back to God (the source of all food and life) in the matter of food and eating through a well-thought out, orderly approach revealed in Scripture, vibrant physical, emotional, and spiritual life can be restored to individuals and even family units.

Before progressing further, it should be made clear that the aforementioned anecdotes and expressions are not coming from a soul who thinks he is not in need of renewal in this area, whereas almost everyone else is. In fact, the leading purpose in carrying out this study was because the author became very displeased with his own approach to food. Although only pesky portions of fat appear on my body from time to time, thanks in no small part to a good metabolism and smaller-stature genetics, I found myself consistently hoarding and gulping my food, without much regard for what I was eating, how much I was eating, and the time frame it took to eat it. As I aged, I began to notice certain gastronomic phenomena. Most obvious were those things resulting from a case of esophagitus and acid reflux. I needed to change my eating habits, and I needed to do it immediately. I ate too much non-life-giving foods, too fast, and with too little thought. I was really not that much different than those with obvious weight problems, and I needed to take a long, hard look at myself in this area. Perhaps I should have picked up clues from long ago, such as when a college roommate accused me of mantling my food.⁵ This book is simply my own pilgrimage through an area I want to improve upon in my life spiritually, physically, and psychologically. I can only hope that I am changed for the better, and that somehow, you, the reader, will come on the journey with me also to be changed and to develop a theological approach to food, diet, and weight control.

I dedicate this book to my precious wife, Migdalia, and my beautiful children, Joseph and Shari. It was Joseph, who, at the tender age of ten, brainstormed a new family tradition, a few days each year called H days. These days would be devoted to physical health, hence the designation H. The family would spend the day eating healthy foods only, drinking water, playing games, and exercising. This created a greater awareness in us of our need for the deliberate practice of good health habits in our daily routines. As I said in my earlier dedication, may the