“Mark Tindall” <> wrote in message news:<>…

from Rabbi Rudolph Brasch, Thank God I’m an Atheist, Collins, Australia, 1987, p. 60

WINE AND RELIGION

The drinking of wine was an essential part of earliest religious meals. With wine man hallowed the sacred days and found communion with the divine. Jews still thus sanctify every Sabbath and holy day. When, as a loyal member of the Jewish community, Jesus celebrated the passover eve, at his Last Supper, he shared with his twelve disciples in the blessing and drinking of wine, traditionally and significantly refferred to by the Jewish religion as ‘Sanctification’, Kiddush in Hebrew.

The world owes many a famous wine and liqueur to monasteries. They developed the beveridges for religious reasons. The many services and celebrations held in the monastery demanded a plentiful supply of wine. To be self supporting, the monks planted their own vineyards, and the wine making became part of their daily lives. They became experts in the art and, not rarely, came to excel in one of the many varieties that they distilled. The quality of their product was no doubt not the result of accident, but was scientifically achieved by experimentation. On all occasions, however, the monks were prompted by the sincere desire to glorify God who – in the words of the ancient Hebrew blessing still used in Jewish homes – had ‘created the fruit of the vine’.

Any funds raised by the sale of their surplus were used by the monks to help the destitute and the sick.

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WINE

In ancient religions wine was often represented as the blood of the god(s). Wine drinking was originally a religious ritual. Wine is mentioned 521 times in the Bible. Anglican and Catholic churches use alcoholic wine for communion.

New Testament

Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34. – Jesus drank wine and was called a winebiber or tippler:

John 2: 3-10. – Jesus turned water into wine at the marriage at Cana.

Acts 2:13. – The excuse for seeming to be drunk was that the drinking taverns had not opened yet, it was far too early for them to be drunk.

Peter did not say ‘They are not drunk as you suppose because you all know that we don’t drink alcohol.”

1 Timothy 5:23. – Drink wine.

Old Testament

Psalm 104:15. – Wine makes people happy.

Proverbs 31:6. – Alcohol is for people who are dying and for those in misery. Let them drink and forget their poverty and unhappiness.

Ecclesiastes 2:3. – Driven by his desire for wisdom, Solomon cheered himself up with wine.

Ecclesiastes 9:7. – Go ahead – eat your food and be happy; drink your wine and be cheerful. It’s all right with God.

Ecclesiastes 10:19. – Feasting makes you happy and wine cheers you up.

Jews

The Authorised Daily Prayer Book of the United Hebrew Congregations of

the British Commonwealth, translated by Rev S Singer, published under the sanction of Chief Rabbi Dr Nathan Marcus Adler, 1962, Blessings on various occasions, p. 385

Before drinking Wine:- Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who createst the fruit of the vine.

After Wine: – Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, for the vine and the fruit of the vine.

BOURBON

The Rev Elijah Craig, a Baptist minister, was the first to distil Bourbon in 1789. It was named after the county in which he had his parish.

CHARTREUSE

Named after La Grand Chartreuse, the carthusian monastery north of Grenoble in France where the liqueur was originally made. In 1605 A F d’Estrees presented a manuscript to carthusian monks for an exilir of life. In 1762 Brother Jerome Maubec translated the text and, on his death bed, dictated it to another brother who made it.

BENEDICTINE

Dom Bernando Vincelli, a Benedictine monk, first distilled it in 1510 in the monastery at Fecamp on the Normandy coast. The letters D. O. M.

on each bottle represent the Latin phrase Deo Optimo Maximo – To God, the Best, the Greatest (or God most good, most great).

CHAMPAGNE / BOTTLE CORKS

The French monk Dom Perignon, the father of Champagne, made the first bottle cork in 1668. He served as the Wine Master at the Abbey of Hautevillers. When he first tasted the champagne that he had made he exclaimed “Je bois des etoiles!” – “I am drinking the stars!”

BEER

Commercial beer brewing was first done in medieval monasteries. Gambrinus was the medieval Flemish saint of beer.

IRISH WHISKEY

Monks who arrived from Spain in the 12th century taught the art of distilling to Irish monasteries.

SCOTCH WHISKY

Irish monks brought their distilling methods to the Scots during evangelisation of Scotland.