FOOD, JUSTICE, AND EUCHARISTIC EATING (LSSP-4500)
(01/30/2023-05/19/2023)
Course Memo
This seminar invites a more profound appreciation of the sacredness of food and eating, the planetary interdependence that a just food system entails, and the destructiveness of the current industrial food system that has left millions of persons hungry and without adequate food to live productive and dignified lives. It explores the food crisis as a spiritual and ethical crisis that calls communities of faith to conversion: to embrace principles of integral ecology, the common good, the integrity of creation, and a just distribution of food resources rooted in the dignity and rights of each person. Critical issues of food will be the context for exploring Christian eucharistic meal-practice: its historical roots in Jesus' meal-fellowship in an imperial Roman world of pervasive food insecurity; its practice today within a world where the cry of the poor and the cry of the Earth for justice must awaken communities to the ethical demands of eucharistic eating and drinking. A key aspect of the course is the class's engagement with four "community partners"–groups in the Bay Area working to address food injustice and food insecurity through community-based, organic farming that provides local communities access to safe, affordable and nutritious food. Students will engage with these groups on-site as an integral part of the course. M.Div, MA, MTS, THM, STL, STD, PhD. students are welcome. For more information, please contact Dr. Mary McGann (mmcgann@scu.edu). [Faculty Consent required; 12 max enrollment]