Eating Food, Eating Scripture

Paul, a congregant, song leader, and deacon at St. Lydia’s, sent us this selection from Blake Layerle’s contribution to the book, Educating People of Faith; Exploring the History of Jewish and Christian Communities about eating food and eating scripture in Church

“This language “command of Scripture,” however, needs further modulation, again based upon the analogy between eating food and “eating” Scripture.  While it may appear that the task of a monk is to take Scripture in by mouth and break it down so that it becomes part of himself, the reality is the opposite.  It is the word that grasps the monastic, breaks her down makes her part of Scripture.  This process of incorporation is startlingly similar to a contemporary theory of the Eucharist; unlike ordinary food consumed to become part of one’s own flesh, when one eats the Eucharist, one is broken down to become part of the body of Christ.  In similar fashion, these sayings suggest that the solitary ascetics understood themselves not as consuming, but rather as consumed by Scripture.  Rather than consuming the solitary ascetic is ideally consumed by Scripture.”