This week, I was delighted to discover great encouragement in our homebrew exploits from Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and one of the most influential church leaders in America at the moment. I have been blessed by listening to some of Driscoll’s teaching lately, and so I was well chuffed to see he reckons brewing and theology go hand in hand. As someone who is reformed in theology, committed to expository preaching, but not afraid to be “culturally-liberal“, Driscoll is sure become more influential as conservative evangelicals catch up with the emerging church in terms of cultural engagement. But he’s also pretty controversial so it will be interesting to see what people make of him.

Anyway, in his book The Radical Reformission, he reflects on the possible impact of brewing on the kingdom of God:

“Thankfully, the resurgence of microbrewing in the United States is helping to overcome the great loss and to resurrect the art of brewing. I personally long for the return to the glory days of Christian pubs where God’s men gather to drink beer and talk theology.”
 - Mark Driscoll, The Radical Reformission

That tradition of drinking beer and talking theology has a fine history here in Oxford with the likes of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien meeting for a pint at the Eagle & Child, and Oxo and his homeless mates discussing the finer points of substitutionary atonement outside the butchers on Magdalen Road.

Driscoll also recalls some the great brewing heritage in the Christian tradition:

• Saint Gall was a missionary to the Celts and a renowned brewer
• After Charlemagne’s reign, the church became Europe’s exclusive brewer
• When a young woman was preparing for marriage, her church brewed a special bride ale, from which we derive the word bridal
• Pastor John Calvin’s annual salary included upwards of 250 gallons of wine to be enjoyed by him and his guests
• Martin Luther once wrote of the Reformation, “While I sat still and drank beer with Philip and Amsdorf, God dealt the papacy a mighty blow.”
• Luther’s wife Catherine was a skilled brewer, and his love letters to her when they were apart lamented his inability to drink her beer
• When the Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock, the first permanent structure they erected was a brewery