1 Decorating Holiday Bags at the Friends Seminary, Making Dinner in the Kitchen 1 -- 2 The Meals Are the Message: God's Love We Deliver, 1985 to 1994 25 -- 3 Getting the Meals Out: Daily Life in the Kitchen 42 -- 4 Religious Practice in the Kitchen 62 -- 5 What We Talk about When We Talk about Religion 90 -- 6 Doing Something about AIDS 117 -- Conclusion: Hints Followed by Guesses 130 -- Appendix Studying Religion at God's Love We Deliver 143
Summary
For over a year Courtney Bender worked as a volunteer for a nonprofit, nonreligious organization, helping to prepare home-cooked meals for people with AIDS. Paying close attention to what was said and not said, Bender traces how the volunteers gave voice to their moral positions and religious values. She also examines how they invested their conversations, and mundane activities such as cooking, with personal meaning that in turn affected how they saw their own spiritual lives. 'Heaven's Kitchen' shows faith as a living practice, reshaping our understanding of the role of religion in contemporary American life
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-188) and index
