Undergraduate Course: Consuming Practice: Food in Christian Religion (THET10052)
Course Outline
| School | School of Divinity |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course explores fascinating and sometimes bizarre Christian traditions of food and eating in order to understand consumption, addiction and abstinence today. |
| Course description |
Academic Description:
This course explores fascinating and sometimes bizarre Christian traditions of food and eating in order to understand consumption, addiction and abstinence today. Its methodology crosses the boundaries between theology, religious studies and biblical studies. By focusing on food and eating, the course encourages students to look at texts and traditions with which they may well be familiar from a new angle. It shows how theology can shape decisions about everyday life and equips students to develop their own constructive theology of food and diet by drawing on a diverse range of texts, traditions and theories.
Syllabus/Outline Content:
The first half of the course cover biblical and historical material. It opens with a social anthropological reading of Leviticus and an analysis of conflicts around table fellowship in the Pauline communities. It then moves on to the medieval period, covering the desert fathers, monasteries and collective social abstinence, before turning to the Reformation critique of previous practice. The second half of the course focuses on selected issues. It begins with a constructive critique of consumer society followed by a theological appraisal of addiction. Consideration of meat-eating and sacrifice comes next and finally an examination of the idea of eucharistic eating.
Student Learning Experience Information:
There is one two-hour seminar each week and the course manager is available for consultation at other times. A key text is to be read before each seminar and forms the basis for the seminar teaching and discussion. Each student gives a presentation on one of these texts and may upload the presentation or its text to the Learn site for use by other course members. The assessment comprises the presentation and seminar participation, a coursework essay and a written exam.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Divinity/Religious Studies courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Identify and understand key texts and traditions that inform a Christian view of food and diet.
- Compare and contrast different Christian attitudes to food and diet.
- Interpret current practical issues in food and diet using perspectives developed from textual and historical research.
- Debate scholarly issues relating to food and diet.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | ConPFood |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr David Grumett
Tel: (0131 6)50 8970
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Katrina Munro
Tel: (0131 6)50 8900
Email: |
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