Book Talk with Catherine Newell, "Food Faiths: Diet, Religion, and the Science of Spiritual Eating"
Monday, February 10, 2025 6:30pm
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265 Aragon Avenue Coral Gables, FL 33134
https://humanities.as.miami.edu/public-programs/booktalks/index.htmlFood Faiths: Diet, Religion, and the Science of Spiritual Eating explores how individuals internalize scientific knowledge regarding health and diet, and then incorporate that information into their lives as the basis of a personal spiritual practice. In this book, Catherine L. Newell examines how science is used to justify a dietary lifestyle and investigates the world of “spiritual eating,” which is comprised of practitioners who identify themselves not by a religion but by their diet. These diets are based in diverse sciences such as anthropology, ecology, systems biology, nutritional studies, biomedicine, and physiology; adherents view their diet as a lifestyle, a path to enlightenment, and a nebulously defined point of “health.” This, in turn, enables the practitioner to locate themselves in relation to other members of their community, to older traditions suffused with religious practice, and to understand their praxis in relation to the entire biosphere. While on one level this project explores how food, health, and diet can be a source of spiritual fulfillment, on another level "Food Faiths" illustrates how science and religion are subsumed into a culture and merged to form the basis of an individual’s lived spiritual practice.
Catherine L. Newell is a scholar of religion and science, focusing on the intersection of scientific knowledge and religious belief. Her research examines how various religious traditions engage with scientific concepts, particularly in areas such as bioethics, environmentalism, and the history of medicine. Newell's work – including her books Destined for the Stars (U of Pittsburgh 2019) and Food Faiths (Lexington 2023) – explores the historical and contemporary interactions between science and religion, emphasizing both conflict and cooperation with particular emphasis on how science, spirituality, religion, and ethics can work together to address pressing global challenges.
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