Alcohol consumption in THE Church

[CFH]

Hi everyone,

I was looking for some references from Church history (Church fathers, the middle ages, etc…) on alcohol consumption. I am looking for information on either it’s morality or the practice of alcohol consumption. If anyone has any references or ideas, I would gladly appreciate.

Thanks!

 

[edward_george]

You’re likely to find things warning against drunkenness, as such also is found in Scripture. However, alcohol consumption was taken for granted in the early Church because people typically drank wine and beer day-to-day. Water was far to hazardous to drink without first being made into beer, and wine was a staple in the Mediterranean.

-ACEGC

 

[OchsFam]

What is the reason for the need of reference? If it is a question of if alcohol consumption in moderation is licit, you don’t need to look outside of the Bible.

Luke 7:33-34
“For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, He has a demon.' The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’”

Clearly Christ drank wine (and not just grape juice) if people were calling him a drunkard.

God Bless.

 

[CFH]

Thanks for the replies. The reason is that my friends and I are starting a Theology club, and we are mostly just looking for information. I can quote the catechism that says drunkenness is wrong, but looking more for maybe the habits of catholics regarding alcohol, writings regarding it, etc… sorry I can’t be more clear, basically looking for anything that is not in the Bible…

 

[COPLAND_3]

I would recommend finding the Bible passages that talk about alcohol and then looking into the commentaries from the sources you are interested in to see if they elaborate on the subject. If you want, you can post some good passages from the Bible and then I will look them up in medieval commentaries like the Fathers, I’ve got plenty on hand.