In Christian contexts, the meal is usually connected to the sacrament of the Eucharist. In this essay, the aim is to explore the everyday meal in which people gather, both at home and in church settings. What are the theological meanings of a meal, and what are people experiencing around the table? The essay poses the question Which theological meanings are expressed concerning the meal in Christian contexts? To answer this question, the essay has two theoretical frameworks, which are “body theology” and “lived religion”. The method used in the essay is a two-part analysis. The first part is a content analysis, with focus on the writers’ emotions and experiences. The second part is a dialogue with Norman Wirzba. The material contains primary and secondary material, which are books by Kendall Vanderslice, Lina Mattebo (red.), and Norman Wirzba. This essay concludes that the meal in Christian contexts has many different, mostly positive, meanings. The most prominent meanings of the meal are community and relationship building, identity, spiritual exercise, and a strong sense of the significance of the body. Many of the authors express a feeling of connection to God in the meal, even in the everyday situation. The concept of “exile” is also explored. For future research it would be interesting to aim focus towards meals in non-Western countries, and to investigate the effects of gender and what power dynamics that meals may have.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-412636 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Österling, Kajsa |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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