Fasting - Lynne M Baab

The subtitle to Fasting is Spiritual Freedom beyond our Appetites. The book deals with many different types of fasting, not just fasting from food. Lynne Baab draws on much material by other established authors in this field, including several research projects conducted by students. She also draws on her own experiences, in an open, honest account of her struggles with fasting, particularly as someone whose weight has see-sawed and for whom dieting has been a life-time preoccupation.

Her opening metaphor for Biblical fasting is the Statue of Liberty in New York, whose face is stern and austere, compared with its smaller version in Seattle, having a soft almost fleshy face. She contrasts the two faces, drawing parallels between costly freedom and indulgent benevolence, drawing the reader to the challenges of sacrifice and commitment in a culture that has become self-absorbed and pleasure-seeking. Her claim is that in our quest for freedom we actually burden ourselves and have forgotten what lack and true liberty feel like.

Using numerous examples from biblical and church history, and testimonies from people today, her study takes the reader through current attitudes towards food and fasting; a brief history of fasting in Christian history; an excellent chapter which she calls ‘A photo album of biblical stories’; abstaining from food and an introduction to the vocabulary of fasting, including a useful table of definitions; other fasts, including TV and entertainment fasts, and fasting for those with eating disorders; and communal fasting with others.

Each chapter concludes with questions for reflection or discussion and a short prayer focus. On almost every page, quotes by other writers or succinct testimonies by people who have fasted are highlighted, breaking up the block of text. The use of an empty bowl, from the cover photo, punctuates each chapter and quotation, creating a frequent visual reminder of the book’s topic. Two short appendices are included: one, on further sources of reading about fasting, and the other, on the challenge of finding fasting in the Bible, reminding the reader that fasting was implied in many of the biblical texts referring to prayer, as it was part of Jewish culture and background.

Baab’s style is easy to read and she presents her findings in a down-to-earth way, filled with practical examples and hints to encourage the novice faster. She is not preachy or superior, readily admitting her own difficulties with fasting, but nevertheless urging the reader to explore this much misunderstood and largely ignored discipline by Christians today. Her challenge is for her readers to broaden their understanding, to see fasting as something attainable and to rediscover the spiritual benefits of fasting within a 21st century western lifestyle.

Lynne Baab's other books include Sabbath Keeping and A Renewed Spirituality. Fasting is the first book of her's that I have been introduced to. Having read it fairly quickly, I now need to reread unhurriedly, pausing at the end of each chapter for serious reflection and subsequent action. Fasting is a topic which I have read briefly about, dabbled a little with, but never really uncovered its hidden treasures.

I would recommend this book to anyone else in a similar position.