{"id":8082,"date":"2012-06-14T15:35:52","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T19:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=8082"},"modified":"2012-06-14T15:35:52","modified_gmt":"2012-06-14T19:35:52","slug":"saying-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html","title":{"rendered":"Saying Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"Of Christian prayers, those related to food can be the most theologically problematic. I remember hearing a missionary speak about how others in her mission team had become ill and she had not, and she attributed it to her \u201cpraying over her food\u201d \u2013 as though (1) her Christian co-workers did not, (2) prayer effectively prevents food poisoning, and (3) God would vindictively punish Christian missionaries with diarrhea because their prayers were not\u2026I can\u2019t even imagine what.<\/p>\n

Likewise something as simple as prayer for \u201cdaily bread\u201d is not straightforward \u2013 and not only because of the translation issues related to that phrase (which I\u2019ll leave to one side for the present). What does such a prayer mean? That the Wonder factory workers and truck drivers will not go on strike? Or that the drive to the store will not be plagued by inconveniently busy traffic? Or is it really a prayer that we\u2019ll earn enough to buy food \u2013 and not spend it unwisely? Do such prayers even remain meaningful in our time?<\/p>\n

Bart Simpson<\/a> once prayed<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cDear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

There are quite a lot of discussions online about secular<\/a><\/em> and atheist<\/a><\/em> graces<\/a> for use before meals. Lots of people agree that expressing gratitude before eating is appropriate. It is how <\/em>to do so that is challenging<\/a> \u2013 more challenging than many who say grace regularly may realize.\u00a0Because even from the perspective of a Christian, one perhaps does best to leave God out of it, and express thankfulness<\/em> for having in a way that does not imply that God selected you to have a surplus and others to starve. If we treat God in the traditional and popular interventionist manner, we end up with the conundrum that is summed up in the following image that has been making the rounds:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I would like to hear from readers of this blog who say grace. Does God feature in the words you use? If your giving thanks is religious in nature, have you found a way to avoid the implication that God has set up a world in which some have access to as much bread as they wish, whether they pray for it\/give thanks for it or not, while others\u2019 prayers go unanswered? Does your way of giving thanks include a concern for social justice which acknowledges the problem of some not having enough to eat, and our responsibility as human beings to address that problem and not merely expect some sort of divine intervention to sort it out?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m currently pondering the matter and trying to formulate a \u201cgrace\u201d for use in my own family. If I come up with something, I\u2019ll share it. And if you share one here that seems better than anything I am likely to come up with, and so I decide to borrow it, rest assured that I will give thanks using appropriate words for what you have provided!<\/p>\n

Let me end by sharing this image that I found when I searched for \u201cdaily bread\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of Christian prayers, those related to food can be the most theologically problematic. I remember hearing a missionary speak about how others in her mission team had become ill and she had not, and she attributed it to her \u201cpraying over her food\u201d \u2013 as though (1) her Christian co-workers did not, (2) prayer effectively […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127,131,163,80,100,101],"tags":[871,1835,2386,4118,4858,5320,10179,11009,12449,12497],"class_list":["post-8082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism-religion","category-christianity-religion","category-progressive-christianity-religion","category-religion","category-theodicy","category-theology","tag-atheist","tag-christian","tag-daily-bread","tag-grace","tag-humanist","tag-intervention","tag-religious","tag-secular","tag-thanksgiving","tag-theodicy"],"yoast_head":"\nSaying Grace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Of Christian prayers, those related to food can be the most theologically problematic. I remember hearing a missionary speak about how others in her\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saying Grace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Of Christian prayers, those related to food can be the most theologically problematic. I remember hearing a missionary speak about how others in her\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-14T19:35:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2415\/2460220924_c9f83744d7.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html\",\"name\":\"Saying Grace\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-14T19:35:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-14T19:35:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"Of Christian prayers, those related to food can be the most theologically problematic. I remember hearing a missionary speak about how others in her\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Saying Grace\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Saying Grace","description":"Of Christian prayers, those related to food can be the most theologically problematic. I remember hearing a missionary speak about how others in her","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Saying Grace","og_description":"Of Christian prayers, those related to food can be the most theologically problematic. I remember hearing a missionary speak about how others in her","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2012-06-14T19:35:52+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2415\/2460220924_c9f83744d7.jpg"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html","name":"Saying Grace","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-06-14T19:35:52+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-14T19:35:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"Of Christian prayers, those related to food can be the most theologically problematic. I remember hearing a missionary speak about how others in her","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/saying-grace.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Saying Grace"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}