Novalis – somethinggrand

Sometimes a book comes along at just the right time (a review)

By Christine Way Skinner

Sometimes a book comes along at just the right time. For me, this was Matthew Anderson’s Pairings: The Bible and Booze (Novalis, 2022). As pandemic restrictions were loosening and the possibility of gathering with other people was restored, I yearned for a good discussion group. Pairings provided just the right text for a post-pandemic bible study! The concept is clever. Anderson has chosen ten scripture stories and “paired” them with an appropriate drink. He begins with “Low-Hanging Fruit: Apple Cider and the Second Creation Account,” and ends with “Bringing Down the Curtain: Bloody Caesars and the Book of Revelation.”

Though the book seems light and fun – and it is – it is by no means superficial.

The book is small – only 111 pages – but Anderson packs a wealth of material in each short chapter. Readers will be presented with insights into both Scripture and the history of various libations. Though the book seems light and fun – and it is – it is by no means superficial. Anderson provides rich, thought-provoking points for discussion on important and meaningful topics. Each time, our group has met, folks have arrived with points underlined that they wanted to discuss. And discuss we did! So far, the topics have included the portrayal of women in the Bible, the church’s role in colonialism, the comfort that faith brings to our lives, and the admixture of bitterness and sweetness in human life.

I have recently become fond of ordering a beer flight in our local restaurant/brewery where I can sample a variety of beers in small sizes. This always leads me to think, “I’d really like to try more of that beer.” Pairings reminds me of such beer flights. Every chapter left me intrigued to learn more. So, I very much appreciated the excellent suggestions for further reading that Anderson provides at the chapter’s end. I also appreciated that he provides non-alcoholic drink pairing for those who prefer this. Sharing a drink among friends can be wonderful, but alcohol can also be problematic. Thus, I found this to be an ethical, sensitive, and compassionate addition.

The small group we formed around the book has met only four times. I look forward to our six more meetings by which time, (hint, hint), we might have a Volume II!

Christine Way Skinner is a lay minister and author. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Theology degree from St. Francis Xavier University and a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. She is currently working on a Doctorate in Theology at St. Michael’s College in Toronto. Christine loves trying to find inclusive, compelling, and creative ways to pass on the church’s 2000-year-old traditions. She enjoys exploring the arts, gardening, and engaging conversations. Christine’s numerous publications can be found and purchased here.

Pairings: Drinking Cider in the Garden of Eden

You can find a good cider almost anywhere apples are grown, but England has some of the best. In today’s post, I’m serving up these two Thatchers ciders—Rascal and Katy—with a sampler from chapter one of my book Pairings: The Bible and Booze. Why this pairing? Two simple reasons:

1/ “Rascal” is yet another in a steady stream of apple cider branding that portrays the product as “sinfully good,” “temptingly tasty,” and “devilishly delicious.” Notice a theme here? Without necessarily mentioning the Garden of Eden, many cider companies rely on advertising and logos that “tap into” images of apples and temptresses that we think are from Genesis. But are they really biblical? This brings us to the second cider…

2/ “Katy” is the name of one of the biblical scholars I quote in the chapter – Dr Katie B. Edwards, Hebrew Bible specialist, BBC broadcaster, and author of Admen and Eve: The Bible in Contemporary Advertising. In Admen and Eve, she shows how Eve has been so consistently portrayed in art and in advertising as a “femme fatale” that we forget that that’s NOT how she’s actually portrayed in Genesis! There are many other ways of reading the story of the Garden of Eden without linking an apple (iffy) with Eve as solely responsible for original sin (look to the Church Fathers for that one).

Katie was kind enough to write an endorsement for the back cover of Pairings.

You can read more about Genesis 2-3, Katie, and the secret history of apples, in chapter one of Pairings: the Bible and Booze, “Low-Hanging Fruit: Apple Cider and the Second Creation Account.” Each chapter of the book pairs a specific drink with a specific biblical text. Chapter one pairs the Genesis creation accounts with either a fermented cider, like one of these Thatchers, or an alcohol-free farmer’s market cider, like the ones you can buy from Rougemont Quebec, or in the Okanagan, or the Niagara Peninsula, or the Annapolis Valley.

Order your copy at https://en.novalis.ca/products/pairings !