恩典的滋味：由「芭比的盛宴」談食物與體悟

The Taste of Grace: Food and Embodied Inspiration in Babette's Feast

食物是表達宗教理解與實踐最重要的媒介之一。本文以討論食物與宗教的經典作品，丹麥小說家Isak Dinesen的短篇小說「芭比的盛宴」（Babette's Feast），以及後來由丹麥導演Gabriel Axel改編為同名的電影來討論「恩典（grace）」的意涵。恩典一詞意指神對人的俯就與善意：神以多種方式臨在於人間，將自己通傳給受造物。在基督宗教的脈絡中，恩典是神自由地贈與，人自由地白白接受。本文將試圖論證，由小說文本與電影文本所開展之「恩典」的意涵不只是一個有意義的宗教概念，也不僅僅屬於教義或認知的範疇，而是一個藉著多重感官的身體經驗所獲得的體悟。這樣的體悟在小說與電影中又特別是透過與食物有關的種種身體經驗，例如飢餓／飽足、消化／淤塞、清簡／繁複、愉悅／排斥等來獲得意義。本文把「恩典」的意涵放在「身體感」研究取向的脈絡中來討論。從三個面向來討論與食物有關的身體感如何成為體悟恩典的基礎：第一、身體經驗如何成為食物在「聖－俗」對立之宗教系統中的分類基礎。第二、「恩典」如何藉著食物與身體感的交織來得到體悟。第三、食物食用（consumption）的身體經驗如何釋放舌（tongue）與言（word）的禁錮，使得哀悼過程得以發生。

Food is one of the most important media for the religious understanding and practice. This essay explores the meaning of grace by the analyzing of Isak Dinesen's classical novel of food and religion-'Babette's Feast,' and the film arranged and directed by Gabriel Axel with the same title. This essay attempts to argue that grace is not only an important religious idea which signifies God's unconditional gift to the creatures. In the context of Dinesen's novel and Axel's film, grace is an embodied inspiration acquired through various bodily experiences, for example, hunger/satiation, fluency/stagnation, austerity/lavishness, and pleasure/resistance. This essay discusses the embodied meaning of grace through three aspects, first, how bodily experiences constitute the foundation of classificatory system of food. Second, how grace is realized by the communication of food and bodily experiences. Finally, how the bodily experience of consumption delivers the imprisonment of tongue and word, and makes the mourning possible.