For the love of food, for the love of fat: Dr Hannah Bacon on feminist theology and dieting culture

This week, Hannah Bacon talks about the research behind her book Feminist Theology and Contemporary Dieting Culture: Sin, salvation and women’s weight loss narratives (Bloomsbury). In a review of the book published in the Church Times, Jennie Hogan writes: “Susie Orbach’s 1978 seminal book Fat is a Feminist Issue broke taboos about women’s fleshy bodies. In Hannah Bacon’s engaging analysis of notions of fat in relation to Christianity, she argues forcefully and gracefully that fat is also a theological issue. Indeed, we are invited to experience the “faithing” of fat in her book, which is at once accessible and academic in its sustained personal and theological engagement.” Dr Bacon is Associate Professor in Feminist Theology and Acting Head of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Chester, UK. The talk was recorded at the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature, at Bloxham School, in Oxfordshire, in February. Get the Church Times delivered for 10 weeks for just £10: www.churchtimes.co.uk/10-weeks