Orthodox Health The Temperance Table: Mormonism, Methodism & the Caffeine-Free Gospel
Why did America learn to fear the feast?
In this episode of the Orthodox Health Podcast, Dr. Michael Christian & John continue the story of how 19th-century revivalism, temperance preachers, & eventually Mormonism redefined food & drink as moral tests instead of gifts of grace.
From Joseph Smith’s “caffeine-free gospel” to the Methodist crusade against alcohol, we uncover how Protestant (& post-Prostestant) restraint replaced the sacramental joy of the table.
You’ll hear how Mormonism’s “Word of Wisdom” mixed piety with folk magick, how the Temperance Movement made self-control America’s new religion, & why Orthodoxy restores what the modern diet religions lost: communion, celebration, & thanksgiving.
Because the goal isn’t to scrub the world clean... it’s to let grace illuminate it again.
Takeaways:
The Word of Wisdom & Methodist temperance reforms weren’t just health codes... they were moral boundary-markers born from revivalist guilt.
Protestant suspicion of the body paved the way for America’s caffeine-free, low-fat, self-denying “diet gospel.”
Mormonism’s origins in the “Burned-Over District” fused folk magick, Freemasonry, & alchemy with the language of revelation.
The Enlightenment’s split between matter & spirit created a vacuum that folk magic rushed to fill... a kind of what Jonathan Pageau calls “mis-enchantment.”
- Orthodoxy bridges that divide: fasting disciplines, feasting sanctifies.
- True detox is repentance; true temperance is joy rightly ordered.
Sound Bytes:
- “When America gave up the chalice, it didn’t lose alcohol... it lost sacrament.”
- “The problem isn’t caffeine — it’s when we turn self-control into a new gospel.”
- “They tried to scrub the world clean… but grace doesn’t sterilize... it sanctifies."
- “Revivalists replaced feasting with guilt, but the Orthodox answer isn’t to reject ritual... it’s to redeem it.”
“The only real detox? Repentance. That’s how the icons are restored.”
Chapters:
00:00 Opener
01:30 Introduction to the Caffeine-Free Gospel
05:45 The Word of Wisdom: Mormonism's Dietary Advice
09:06 The Role of Control in "Holiness"
11:28 Methodists & the Rise of the Temperance Movement
13:00 John's Quick Gospel of the Jedi Aside
13:40 On Trying to Legislate Holiness
19:37 An Aside on Mary as the Queen of Heaven
21:14 Prohibition as Fasting Without Feasting
24:07 Protestant Guilt & Modern Diet Culture
30:10 Hedonism as a Revolt Against Puritanism
31:55 Joy as a Commandment
34:54 Moralism & The Need for Ritual
37:57 Mormonism: America's Gnostic Great Awakening
41:02 Thy Will Vs. Self-Will in Salvation
43:50 The Contrast Between Prayer & Magic
49:20 The Folk Magic Roots of Modern Wellness Culture
53:15 The Wellness Gospel & Modern Rituals
55:40 Asceticism & the True Nature of Fasting
58:06 Closing Thoughts & Looking Ahead
59:36 Outro
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