Alcohol abuse is no laughing matter, but is it sinful to drink and make merry, moderately and responsibly, during a holy season or at any other time?

As a historical theologian, I researched the role that pious Christians played in developing and producing alcohol.

What I discovered was an astonishing history.

Religious orders and wine-making
Wine was invented 6,000 years before the birth of Christ, but it was monks who largely preserved viniculture in Europe. Religious orders such as the Benedictines and Jesuits became expert winemakers.

They stopped only because their lands were confiscated in the 18th and 19th centuries by anti-Catholic governments such as the French Revolution's Constituent Assembly and Germany's Second Reich.

In order to celebrate the Eucharist, which requires the use of bread and wine, Catholic missionaries brought their knowledge of vine-growing with them to the New World.

Wine grapes were first introduced to Alta California in 1779 by Saint Junipero Serra and his Franciscan brethren, laying the foundation for the California wine industry.

A similar pattern emerged in Argentina, Chile and Australia.

Godly men not only preserved and promulgated oenology, or the study of wines; they also advanced it.

One of the pioneers in the "méthode champenoise," or the "traditional method" of making sparkling wine, was a Benedictine monk whose name now adorns one of the world's finest champagnes: Dom Pérignon.

According to a later legend, when he sampled his first batch in 1715, Pérignon cried out to his fellow monks: "Brothers, come quickly. I am drinking stars!"

Monks and priests also found new uses for the grape.

The Jesuits are credited with improving the process for making grappa in Italy and piscoin South America, both of which are grape brandies. Continue reading

• Michael Foley is Associate Professor of Patristics, Baylor University, Texas

The proportion who drank more than recommended limits on at least one occasion in the past year ranged from 40 per cent for those aged 55 to 64 to 80 per cent for those aged 18 to 24.

While for some this may be infrequent, for too many New Zealanders this is their usual pattern of consumption.

It's not just this binge-style drinking that is of concern. Problems also arise for people drinking regularly. For a healthy adult, even two or three drinks a day may cause health complications. For those with compromised health, even lower levels may be problematic.

Drinking can easily slide from one of life's pleasures to one of life's problems. Perhaps it's a regular routine that has become a bit heavy, or perhaps you find it hard to place a limit on how much you drink in social situations.

When people are offering you drinks, buying in rounds, there's a competitive edge or an expectation to keep up.

Take a minute to stop and add up how many standard drinks you had in the past week. One standard drink is a 100ml glass of wine, a can of four per cent beer or a pub-poured double spirit (a home-poured double is more likely to be two standard drinks or more).

If you're having more than five standard drinks on any one occasion (four for women), more than 15 a week (10 for women), or fewer than two days without alcohol in a week, it would be a good idea to try to reduce your drinking. Of course, you may already be drinking less than this and want to reduce further.

Here are some ideas about how you might do that.

First, do you even need to have a drink? One of the quickest ways to reduce your intake is to increase the number of non-drinking days you have.

If you are going to drink alcohol, you should always avoid drinking on an empty stomach.

Combining food with alcohol slows down the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream and gives you something else to do so you may consume less.

Make sure you're not thirsty. Have a non-alcoholic thirst quencher so you're not guzzling alcohol as a reaction to dehydration. Continue reading

Sources

• Simon Adamson in Stuff
• Image: The Telegraph

Associate Professor Simon Adamson is deputy director of the National Addiction Centre and a Christchurch-based clinical psychologist in private practice specialising in alcohol, other drugs and behavioural addictions.

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