WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE EAT? Part II: A THEOLOGICAL INQUIRY

  • Ernst M Conradie University of the Western Cape
Keywords: Christianity, Eating, Food, Intimacy, Joy, Kenosis, Predation, Recycling

Abstract

What do we do when we eat? In the second part of this contribution the fivefold typology offered in the first part is supple­mented by three (more or less) theological approaches on the basis of the concepts of recycling, kenosis and superfluous joy.  In an inconclusive proposal it is suggested that eating is best understood as a form of intimacy, not enmity. Indeed, one becomes what one eats. One litmus test for any adequate theological interpretation of eating is an eschatological one: would “eternal life” involve both eating and predation, eating but not predation, or no eating and therefore no predation? What kind of life would that be? Or is our last best hope merely for life on earth to continue as long as possible, if not forever?

Author Biography

Ernst M Conradie, University of the Western Cape
 Department of Religion and Theology  University of the Western Cape  
Published
2017-02-01
Section
Articles