Summary
FOR the ancient Greeks, drunkenness was often considered sacred, as wine was regarded as the provider of liberation and ecstasy. Early Jewish scriptures point to wine's harmful effects and suggest it was a blessing that was better kept under strict rabbinical control, while in the Islamic empire, within ten years of the death of Mohammed, wine was banned from every country that adhered to his tenets.
Wine's long association with religious belief stretches back as far as the scriptures themselves. There are more mentions in the Bible of the vine than of any other plant, and the evolution of the Christian Eucharist draws on the ancient practice of feasting and communal eating. In the Old Testament Moses' followers' first sight of the Promised Land in Canaan was a "cluster of grapes". When Joseph translated the dreams of Pharaoh's chief house servant, he made reference to a man who had watched "the vines grow".See the full content of this document
Extract
Holy Orders
Jesus drank wine at the Last Supper and famously turned water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana.
But it wasn't until the early medieval period that the relationship ...See the full content of this document
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