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God, Food and Alcohol in Israelite and Jewish Cultures

Module description

In this module you will explore the intersections of food and religion by examining the roles and functions of food and alcohol in biblical texts, Israelite religion and later Jewish cultures. Drawing on recent food studies scholarship from the fields of archaeology, anthropology and biblical studies, you will analyse the social roles of food in everyday life and the ideological portrayals of food and consumption in key biblical texts. You will also apply these perspectives regarding the power of food to create and transform Jewish identities in biblical, rabbinic, Holocaust, and modern-day contexts. Recommended preparatory pathways include Bible: Past and Present or Judaisms in Transition: Crises and Innovations or The Invention of God.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will expose you to the study of what is arguably the key cultural and social component of any community. In doing so, you will learn how to ‘read’ food and alcohol allowing you access to the way in which issues of gender, wealth, ideology, status and power are encoded in foodways and the political uses of food. You will also be introduced to the use of anthropological and ethnographic methods and approaches which can be used in the study of religion and religious texts beyond this module. Much of the content of this module is underpinned by the convenor’s own research. The assessment method of a presentation (by podcast) will introduce you to the technology and methods of generating content which is a necessary skill in many career paths beyond academia.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate developed critical understanding and knowledge of the religious, socio-cultural, and historical contexts of selected biblical and later Jewish texts.
• 2. Relate the production and consumption of food and alcohol to the wider social, political, and religious contexts studied.
• 3. Reflect critically on one’s own ‘locatedness’ as we gaze at the past.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Demonstrate a developed understanding of the critical use of anthropological and ethnographic approaches in the study of religion and culture.
• 5. Show an appreciation of how the material culture of everyday life can provide significant insights into the broader socio-religious aspects of a culture.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Communicate clearly and imaginatively in both written and oral form, including via digital technology through podcasts.
• 7. Construct developed logical and lucid arguments using appropriate methods.
• 8. Discuss sensitive issues with appropriate generosity.
• 9. Participate actively and appropriately within group discussion.

Syllabus plan

This module will consider intersections of food and religion with regard to:

• Food preparation and ritual uses of food and alcohol by ordinary Israelites and the gendered division of labour.
• Animals and sacrifice including the ideological function of the centralisation of animal sacrifice in biblical texts.
• Food and memory in biblical texts.
• Food and wine as indicators of blessing and punishment from Yahweh in biblical texts.
• The social roles of feasts and their critique in Hebrew Bible texts.
• Jewish foodways in antiquity with a focus on New Testament and Rabbinic texts.
• Food preparation and feminism in modern Jewish communities.
• The absence of food in Holocaust and post-Holocaust contexts and its social ramifications.
• The function of food and attitudes towards food in modern contexts such as, for example, the formation of the state of Israel and the USA.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

• Christine A. Hastorf, ‘Introduction: The Social Life of Food’ in The Social Archaeology of Food: Thinking about Eating from Prehistory to the Present (Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 2017), 1-11.
• Jordan D. Rosenblum, The Jewish dietary laws in the ancient world (New York: Cambridge University Pres, 2016).
• Nathan MacDonald, Not Bread Alone: The Uses of Food in the Old Testament (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
• Carol Meyers, ‘Having Their Space and Eating There Too: Bread Production and Female Power in Ancient Israelite Households’, Nashim, 5 (2002), 14-44.
• Jennie R. Ebeling and Michael M. Homan, ‘Baking and Brewing Beer in the Israelite Household: A Study of Women’s Cooking Technology’ in B. A. Nakhai ed. The World of Women in the Ancient and Classical Near East (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008), 45-62.
• Meyers, Carol. ‘The Function of Feasts: An Anthropological Perspective on Israelite Religious Festivals’ in S. Olyan ed. Social Theory and the Study of Israelite Religion (Atlanta: The Society of Biblical Literature, 2012), 141-68.
• Michael Dietler, ‘Theorizing the Feast: Rituals of Consumption, Commensal Politics, and Power in African Contexts’ in Michael Dietler and Brian Hayden eds., Feasts: Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics, and Power (Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 2001), 65-114.

Key words search

Food, alcohol, religion, Jewish, Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, Judaism, ritual, Israelite, feasting, identity, anthropology, consumption