We are living in a food and body image obsessed culture. We are encouraged to overconsume by the marketing tactics of big corporations, and are then berated by government and the medical profession for doing so.

At the same time, we are bombarded with media images of unnaturally thin celebrities who go to enormous lengths to retain an unrealistic body image, either by extremes of dieting or through plastic surgery or both.

The spiritual relm is not immune from these pressures, as can be seen in the flourishing of weight loss programmes such as 'Slim for Him', that encourage women to lose weight and gain spiritually.

Lisa examines these phenomena in light of the Christian tradition, which has often had a difficult relationship with sexuality and embodiment and which has promoted ideals of restraint and asceticism. She argues powerfully that, despite this, there are resources within Christianity that can free us from this thinking, and lead us towares a more holistic, incarnational view of what it is to be human.

Accessible for general readers along-side students of theology, sociology and gender studies, this book provides a study of the complex ways in which food, women and religion interconnect and proposes a new Christology of embrace and expansion that emphasises the fullness of our incarnation.

The Fat Jesus and The Power of Erotic Celibacy

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