View
That Hideous Food
Nathanael Devlin on Preserving Physical & Spiritual Nourishment
Today there is a voice within the agricultural world whose insights about farming and food may be instructive to those who are seeking to live with integrity as the church in the world. Joel Salatin is a self-described Christian, libertarian, environmentalist, capitalist, and lunatic farmer in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. He has written numerous books, but his tenth, The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs, is, according to Salatin, his coming-out book. Here he addresses Christians, saying,
The bottom line for me, and the theme of this book, is that creation is an object lesson of spiritual truth. Just like object lessons for children point them to biblical principles, so the physical universe is supposed to point us to God. "The heavens declare the glory of God," the psalmist writes in Psalm 19 (NIV). Indeed. If that is the case, then what does a forgiving farm look like, a beautiful farm, an ordered farm, a neighbor-friendly farm? And not just a farm, but an entire foodscape?
Salatin is a complex and occasionally controversial fellow. He is one of those persons who have the ability to both encourage and offend all sides. But with respect to the church, he may be an unwitting ally whose commitment to a healthy farm can serve as a model for the church, and whose concerns about food may alert us to lurking spiritual dangers.
The War on Food
When I was growing up, our family's daily lunch regimen consisted of one of two sandwiches, the tuna-fish sandwich or the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I grew up on PB&J and have literally eaten hundreds and hundreds of those sandwiches. But today I am absolutely prohibited from sending my daughter to preschool with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The PB&J has become for many a sign of sickness, disease, or even death. Bread is increasingly inaccessible to those with wheat allergies or gluten intolerances; jelly is made with high-fructose corn syrup, an ingredient many believe is contributing to our nation's obesity crisis; and peanut butter is known to cause life-threatening anaphylactic reactions in a growing number of our children. The prohibition against PB&J is not unique to our little preschool but is an issue in many public schools as well: if the sandwich is not prohibited, its eaters are relegated to a special "peanut table," essentially quarantined from the rest of the cafeteria.
How did the beloved PB&J sandwich go from a staple in American kitchens and schools to public enemy No. 1 in just one generation? This phenomenon is not true of PB&J alone. There is a growing list of foods that are becoming inaccessible or even dangerous to the eater, requiring greater and greater regulation, legislation, and litigation. Where did this war on food come from?
Salatin points to the modern food economy, and he may be correct. All of us would do well to think critically about our food habits, where our food comes from, and how our food choices support or enervate certain farm and food production practices. But could there be more? Could the war on food be an object lesson for spiritual truth as well?
In the time leading up to and following the infamous Obergefell decision on "same-sex marriage" by the Supreme Court, many people in the church and on the conservative side of the political spectrum talked about a war on the family and a war on marriage. And indeed, there has been a war on marriage and the family, but this war long precedes developments in American politics and
culture.
After Adam and Eve fell, God spoke a word of good news to all humanity by telling the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15). Since that day, the family has been targeted by the evil one. The family was under threat from the increasing wickedness on the earth, but salvation came through Noah's family on the ark. The family was under threat by the evil edict of Pharaoh in Egypt, but salvation came through a family who defied Pharaoh and placed Moses in a basket among the bulrushes. Even the Holy Family was under threat by the evil machinations of King Herod, but the Lord saved Mary and Joseph so that Jesus could be the salvation of the world. The family has been under threat since the beginning because of the close connection God made between the family and his salvation.
Food & Salvation
Nathanael Devlin is the Associate Pastor at Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. He and his wife have three children and live in Mt. Lebanon.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on bible from the online archives
24.3—May/June 2011
The Making & Endurance of the King James Bible, 1611-2011 by Barton Swaim
5.3—Summer 1992
Everything You Need to Know About Morality & the Bible by David Mills
more from the online archives
24.1—January/February 2011
Ruminations on the Monstrous Envy of the Soul-Devouring State by Anthony Esolen
28.5—Sept/Oct 2015
on Our Sacred Duty to Teach the Devil to Death by Marcus Johnson
14.6—July/August 2001
The Transformed Relics of the Fall
on the Fulfillment of History in Christ by Patrick Henry Reardon
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
