Toto

Monkish Brewing joins the Torrance microbrewery fraternity

(the link will not be good for very long)

This brings up the issue of the role of alcohol in Christian history. Important or vitally important? Consider that there were no stimulants available in the first century Roman empire. Coffee did not enter the diet until much later, when Islamic mystics used it to stay awake during meditation; tea was not available; even chocolate did not arrive in Europe until after 1492. Christian theology was written by people who drank alcohol.

Discuss.

(After all, aren't you tired of the other topics here?)

mountainman

Neither I think will doctorates in theology be good for very long. The fangs of the church have lost its grip on the neck of the sheep. Lenny Bruce quipped

"Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God."

Alcohol is a Stimulant?

Alcoholic beverage is classified under Depressants




Christian theology is depressive and regressive to the psyche of children, parents and grandparents. It is the progenitor of centuries of persecutions and inquisitions. In terms of literature we may well be better off with Tolkien or Homer. Armed with a doctorate in theology one becomes a very valuable indoctrinator, dealing in the primary causes of the known universe inside the Hubble limit.



Both are legalized and government supported drugs for the sheeple.
.

sotto voce

How? Monasticism is antichrist.

0

I believe it depends on the sect of Christianity. It's more that alcohol is equated with an immoral lifestyle in more orthodox views.

Incorporation of pagan rites as Christianity gained popularity, which included alcoholic intake, was prevalent up through the 4th century in many areas. It is hard to think of Catholicism without the ceremonial wine. The stereotype of the boisterous, drunken Christian Friar is quite popular in stories of Robin Hood or the Canterbury Tales. Hard to think of them without it, actually.

But I think alcohol, specifically wine, is very important. The story of Christ turning water into wine is a clear example that such festivities are not against the will of God. I find it curious that religious views with strict alcoholic restrictions tend to state that this is a parable, where water and wine either symbolize knowledge or the blood of Christ himself. It is a curious leap, considering that he is clearly helping the inebriation of a great many revelers in the New Testament.

What I find interesting is that those monks who do produce alcohol usually make a great deal of money off of it due to its rarity. I wonder how they reconcile that with their religious views.

GakuseiDon

Beer: The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.
-- Homer Simpson