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Sharing Food: Christian Practices for Enjoyment
Our everyday personal, familial, and communalpractices of eating, says Jung, have the potentialfor making us more attentive to our life purposes, moreattuned to our communal identities, and even moremindful of the presence of God. Juxtaposing practices with values, Jung explores howfood and eating function culturally today. He exploresthe larger dimensions of personal and group eating, thegreat resonance that feasting and food and fasting havewithin the Christian tradition, and how all this figuresvery practically in Christian lifestyle. His work culminatesin a chapter on the Lord's Supper as a model for eatingand the Eucharist as an occasion for sharing with theworldwide family of God.
- GenresTheologySpirituality
176 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 20, 2010
Think Micheal Pollan with Christian theology thrown in the mix. In Sharing Food, Jung examines the attitudes and actions revolving around eating in our country, homes, and churches, and points to ways that we, as North American Christians, can learn how to "eat well."
One of the greatest strengths of Jung's book is that he not only analyzes the environment of our present cultural attitudes toward food in the context of Christian theology and ethics, but that he also concludes each chapter with tools and suggestions for examining our present habits and making concrete changes in our families, communities, and churches. The final chapter, "Living with Jouissance," is exceptionally useful in this regard, as it reviews the many social, economic, political, and environmental factors that contribute to our capacity to enjoy our food, along with resources for learning more and affecting change in one's community. Many of the chapters conclude with questions that can aid in personal reflection, and make this book very well suited for small group discussions.
Although I found Sharing Food personally helpful and often enlightening, there were a few areas in which I found it to be lacking. I felt that some of Jung's arguments would have been strengthened by the inclusion of a brief discussion of the actual science of food and eating, rather than simply referring to these processes and "mysterious." And, a noticeable omission from the final chapter, "Living with Jouissance," is a mention of how the humane treatment of the animals we eat factors into our ability to enjoy food. Clearly, Jung is much more concerned with the conditions of the people involved in food production (as am I), but a general recognition the issues (ethical, economic, nutritional, or otherwise) of eating meat was unfortunately absent.
One of the greatest strengths of Jung's book is that he not only analyzes the environment of our present cultural attitudes toward food in the context of Christian theology and ethics, but that he also concludes each chapter with tools and suggestions for examining our present habits and making concrete changes in our families, communities, and churches. The final chapter, "Living with Jouissance," is exceptionally useful in this regard, as it reviews the many social, economic, political, and environmental factors that contribute to our capacity to enjoy our food, along with resources for learning more and affecting change in one's community. Many of the chapters conclude with questions that can aid in personal reflection, and make this book very well suited for small group discussions.
Although I found Sharing Food personally helpful and often enlightening, there were a few areas in which I found it to be lacking. I felt that some of Jung's arguments would have been strengthened by the inclusion of a brief discussion of the actual science of food and eating, rather than simply referring to these processes and "mysterious." And, a noticeable omission from the final chapter, "Living with Jouissance," is a mention of how the humane treatment of the animals we eat factors into our ability to enjoy food. Clearly, Jung is much more concerned with the conditions of the people involved in food production (as am I), but a general recognition the issues (ethical, economic, nutritional, or otherwise) of eating meat was unfortunately absent.
November 6, 2009
I read this for UMW bookclub. It had a few good points in it, but read a lot like a term paper. Repetitive, but I muddled through it. I could sum up the book for you and save you the time of reading it....
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews