Dream Awakener

German pub friends
Originally uploaded by Camera Freak

A guest post by Mark Steffey

DRINKING WITH CALVIN AND LUTHER

The selling of bad beer is a crime against Christian love. -Martin Luther

The above title is taken directly from the book of the same name by Jim West, Drinking with Calvin and Luther.  In it, West traces the importance of drinking in the life and ministry of not just these two but many church leaders and reformers.  About Calvin, West says,

"John Calvin also expressed his heartfelt gratitude for wine. He wrote in his The Institutes of Christian Religion that ‘It is permissible to use wine not only for necessity, but also to make us merry.’ Calvin praised the transubstantiation of the water into wine at Cana of Galilee as ‘most excellent wine.’ He laid down two conditions for wine drinking: First, it must be moderate, ‘lest men forget themselves, drown their senses, and destroy their strength.’ Calvin even argued that ‘in making merry,’ those who enjoy wine "feel a livelier gratitude to God (West 2003: 26).’”

West also traces how important beer and wine were to Luther’s life and ministry, citing many letters and writings where Luther talks about drinking.  He cites this example, among many, when it comes to Luther, “When Luther was married, he was presented with several casks of beer, but the university gave him a large silver tankard, platted with gold on the outside and inside, weighing five pounds and a quarter (West 2003, 58).”

Tracing back to Jesus, up through the reformation, and even in the last century in the life and ministry of the Trappist Monks or the important conversations that took place among “the Inklings”, the church has a rich and significant ministry that either centers around or includes beer, wine, and alcohol in general.  Followers of Jesus must recapture this spirit and look to this history as both inspiration and to find example of how to faithfully move forward.

The next post in this series is: "Light Beer" – Option One: Sublte missional praxis