For God So Loved the World He Gave Us Sundried Tomatoes

Last updated on: March 22, 2021 at 1:47 am by Agnes Howard

For God So Loved the World He Gave Us Sundried Tomatoes 2021-03-21T17:45:06-04:00 Agnes Howard

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

God wants you to be temperate but could not possibly expect you to be svelte.

Growing up Catholic, I knew that what you ate mattered to God, who substituted fish for meat on Fridays in Lent and, I hoped, was pleased when I gave up chocolate that one time. But it never occurred to me that God might care how much you weigh until I went to college. In the dorm room of a Christian fellowship leader I saw a book called Slim for Him, which seemed to me an unholy mixing of categories. This just could be what it looks like to apply the gospel to every area of your life. But didn’t being this kind of Christian mean deliverance from worry about slimness? I also visited a charismatic women’s Bible study, where my cheerful host’s “casting out the calories” of the chocolate cake seemed of a piece with prayer time spent speaking in tongues and catch-up chat highlighting recent miraculous healings, no one neglecting the work of the Spirit.

Adrienne Rose Bitar is not surprised to find the godly worried about the gut. Bitar sets Christian weight-loss guides in context of diet plans that, she argues, trace our sickness to modern society. In her book, Diet and the Disease of Civilization, diet manuals are not mostly about diets but stories. Blockbuster diet plans devote fewer pages to the actual foods eaten in the system and much more to drawing a vision of a better you in a restored world. She characterizes these big-arc food stories, whether the Paleo diet or Michael Pollan’s dilemma, as versions of an American jeremiad. Diets “retell the narrative backbone for our national consciousness: a tragedy of the jeremiad lamenting a lost Eden, simmering with potential, and always grasping for a better world.” Whether pushing protein or granting grains, they lament the corruptions generated by “civilization,” but offer hope. Hope is why dieters keep buying these books, what comes available to anyone willing to change what is on their plate.

Most of the diets Bitar describes tweak the cliche that our (great) grandmothers could have told us how to eat properly. They look backward in our ancestry–but to much earlier parents, in a much remoter past.

Many diets popular in the last few decades hearken back to a primitive ideal. Christian diets recall the most ideal primitive of all, the garden of Eden. Bitar’s study of Christian diets is just one chapter of her analysis. Other scholars read religious influence on diets in a negative register, seeing these programs as the residuum of Puritanism, self-denial done sans devotion, or thinness prized in women in place of holiness. Building on R. Marie Griffith’s work on American Christian fitness culture, Bitar is struck by how positive recent Christian diets remain. Unlike weight-shaming versions from earlier in the twentieth century, recent Christian diets of emphasize pleasure over privation. Whereas Christian diets formerly charged the overweight individual with responsibility—sin–newer ones generalize the blame. The sin belongs to civilization, not mostly to a woman eating a muffin or a man hoping to wear an old suit to a high school reunion.

Worry about weight is not just a narrow concern, and it’s certainly not just a female one. Ted Haggard, promoter of The Jerusalem Diet, reports that “pastors are the single fattest group of people I know.” Real appeal supports Bible-times diets like Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren’s The Daniel Plan. Bitar reports that “religious Christians have some of the highest obesity rates in the country.” Varied causes account for this, perhaps because eating remains an “acceptable vice” in a culture harder on other vices. Whatever the cause, getting hold of one’s relationship with food might help move other purposes forward. Pastor Warren promises that, “Real food has the power to give you your life back and more fully engage in the purpose for your life.”

Devotional diets call Christians back to God’s creation, to eat God’s foods in God’s timing. Whether recommended meals are abstemious or hearty, lentil pottage or ribeye grilled rare, the plans re-educate the appetite to prefer what God wants us to eat. They emphasize the beauty of food and pleasure of eating it. George Malkmus of The Hallelujah Diet starts out sick but gets well through vegetables. Malkmus reflects that “God designed us to be foragers.” Civilization separated us from God but we can actually return to right creation, the way we are meant to be, by eating our greens. Eden was a garden, after all, so what people should be eating are plants. Especially raw and juiced. A follower of Malkmus’s diet exclaims, “[w]ith each bite, I sank a little deeper in bliss.” Health, wholeness, and holiness seem to come together when plant-based foods also please. As Faith and Fitness magazine proclaims, “for God so loved the world, He gave us sun-dried tomatoes, Honey-crisp apples.”

Rita Hancock, author of The Eden Diet, emphasizes the timing of eating more than the content. In a move consistent with other Christian diet advisors, Hancock notes that our bodies might be more faithful in following God than minds may be. Bitar’s take on this emphasis in Christian diets is provocative, observing that as “a direct conduit between God and the world, the instinctual body can materialize a vision of nature and God that the mind cannot think into being.” We should eat when we are hungry and not when the clock says it’s time for lunch. Bitar notes the inconsistency of this trust in the body’s appetites in contrast to Christian handling of other bodily appetites; sex, for instance, is usually not a realm where pastors advise the faithful simply to follow hungers where they lead.

Hunger is a meeting point between God and creation. Thus, as Bitar explains, “waiting until true hunger clears the pathway between instinct and satisfaction allows God’s time to reintegrate into the timetable of the body.” Our natural bodily signal lets us know when God wants us to eat. Of course, many species of hunger would be monstrously misconstrued as divine visitation. But for the believer dismayed by her own body, by its ungovernability and excess and griefs, such an interpretation may be compelling. This view reimagines a physical ache not at as punishment or insufficiency but gift. God’s gift comes not just in the food that satisfies hunger but in the want itself, as it awaits satisfaction. Feeling hungry is to feel already God’s solicitous attention. Bitar doesn’t call it this, but hunger here seems like a humble mysticism of the every day.

Bitar’s argument is interesting and timely. First, it suggests yet another way food might be moralized, beyond sustainability-minded agriculture and its indictment of the junk that manufacturers direct down our gullets. Second, it pays high respect to texts more often dismissed as frivolous. Even more, Bitar pays respect to people easily dismissed, calling the devotional diets’ narratives “imaginative and complex” and insisting that it is “important to listen to the stories” they and their adherents tell. This approach is exceptional, given current tendencies to vilify people who seem unlike us. Many people count their weight a weakness. It’s an easy target for someone hoping to mock the follies of one’s foes—look, pious plus-sizeds praying over oversized meals! By implicating Pollan and portly pastors in the same project, Bitar suggests a commonality not so obvious before. Here elites and evangelicals may be on the same side of a hope for something better, something we hold in common.

Food is important for more than nutrients, as I have insisted before in this space, and is rightly considered in cultural and even moral terms. If Bitar is right that diets are not mostly about eating, it could be said as well that eating is not mostly about body size either. Even sounder ways of ordering one’s meals come not through looking backward from dismay about the present, but accepting cycles of fast and feast in community. Christian communities have been good at this. This is especially evident right now, when many Christians sit within liturgical seasons of fasting as they anticipate the feast of Easter.

Previous Post

March 20, 2021

The Religious History of March Madness

Next Post

March 23, 2021 The Realignment of American Christianity

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe Guest Post guest post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Jewish festival was being celebrated when the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Hanukkah Purim Passover Shavuot