Food Theology

Food transcends generations and cultures, remains a powerful symbol of hospitality, and brings people together in an increasingly disconnected society. Food Theology: Nourishing Faith in Local Communities explores this deep connection between food and faith, offering shared insights on how shared meals can strengthen spiritual life and foster meaningful relationships in today’s world. You will read this and find nourishment for your faith. –Kevin L. Strickland, bishop of the Southeastern Synod, ELCA

Food Theology calls us to supper, but not before it hands us an apron. With recipes, liturgies, and accessible theological reflection, this book encourages us to imagine how meals can become occasions for satisfying our deep hungers for food, community, and a living faith. Like the meals Lisi and Lohrmann encourage us to prepare, this book is at once invitational, nourishing, adaptable, and best enjoyed together. –Mary Emily Briehl Duba, associate professor of theology, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary

In a world of spiritual and physical hunger, Food Theology invites readers to ground their relationships in God’s abundance through theology and practices that connect faith and food. Themes include God as a generous host, cooking as a community endeavor, shared meals as a foundation for shared lives, and faith-rooted witness to end hunger. This volume is a guide that will enrich family and congregational gatherings, offering recipes for daily bread to sustain body and spirit. –Amy Reumann, senior director for Witness in Society, ELCA

In a world that feels increasingly volatile and segmented, the centrality of food in life and faith remains constant. Across different generations, diverse cultures, and divided societies, food brings us together. In this context, Food Theology is an especially timely, refreshing, and conversational read. It is one part insightful (yet simple) theological reflection and one part ultra-usable how-to guide–lovingly kneaded into a resource for Christian leaders and communities looking to know themselves, one another, God, and their wider contexts more deeply. –Savanna Sullivan, Program Executive for Youth, Lutheran World Federation

Kellie Lisi and Martin Lohrmann offer readers of Food Theology a delicious intellectual potluck–historical, theological, practical, political, and culinary (recipes!). The authors urge Christians to “go for it” in congregational food practices: Sunday dinners, community gardens, soup kitchens and much, much more. The helpful “Questions for Discussion” section after each chapter makes this book ideal for congregational study and engagement. –Jon Pahl, Peter Paul and Elizabeth Hagan Professor of the History of Christianity, United Lutheran Seminary

Kellie Lisi is an ordained deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and serves at Wartburg Theological Seminary as Vice President for Leadership Formation. She has served as a public school teacher and administrator, parish ministry leader, and food educator.

Martin J. Lohrmann teaches history at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. He is the author of several works in the fields of Reformation history, biblical interpretation, and global Christianity. He is also an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with experience in rural, small city, and urban congregations.