Yale University Library Research Guides: Food and Religion: Food in the Bible

Subject Headings

Hunger for the Word: Lectionary Reflections on Food and Justice by Larry Hollar Explores the Lectionary with a focus on anti-hunger advocacy, social activism, and political issues affecting marginalized people
Stations of the Banquet: Faith Foundations for Food Justice by Cathy Carl Campbell Provides guidance for individuals and parishes engaged in living out the food and justice challenges of the Gospel. Similar in function to the traditional Stations of the Cross, each of the fourteen stations of the banquet" considers a dimension of the Christian story of salvation and includes litanies for community prayer.

Not Bread Alone: The Uses of Food in the Old Testament (Online) by Nathan MacDonald An examination of food and its symbolism in the Old Testament and the world of ancient Israel.
T&T Clark Handbook of Food in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel by Janling Fu (Editor); Cynthia Shafer-Elliott (Editor); Carol Meyers (Editor) Examines not only the textual materials of the Hebrew Bible and related epigraphic works, but also engage in a wider archaeological, environmental, and historical understanding of ancient Israel as it pertains to food.
What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat? by Nathan MacDonald Sifts through all the relevant evidence -- biblical, archaeological, anthropological, environmental -- to uncover what the people of biblical times really ate. For a general reader audience.
Eating in Isaiah: Approaching the Role of Food and Drink in Isaiah's Structure and Message (Online) by Andrew T. Abernethy Employs a sequential-synchronic approach to explore the role of eating in the structure and message of the book of Isaiah. Focuses on 'scaffolding' chapters (Isaiah 1; 36-37; 55; 65-66) to make this point.

Contagious Holiness: Jesus' Meals with Sinners by Craig L. Blomberg Surveys meals in the Old Testament and the intertestamental period, examines all the Gospel texts relevant to Jesus' eating with sinners, and concludes with contemporary applications.
The Food and Feasts of Jesus by Douglas E. Neel; Joel A. Pugh Offers a new perspective on life in biblical times by taking readers inside these meals.
Jesus's Meals with Pharisees and Their Liturgical Roots by Thomas Esposito An analysis of three scenes in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus dines with Pharisees and how this serves as a model for Christian believers struggling to implement that teaching in their own communities.
Of Widows and Meals: Communal Meals in the Book of Acts by Reta Halteman Finger Examines the agape-meal tradition in Acts, challenging traditional interpretations of the "community of goods" in the Jerusalem church and proving that the communal sharing lasted for hundreds of years longer than previously assumed.