God Conversations With Tania Harris

Magnums are one of my all-time favourite ice-creams. I love the smooth Belgian chocolate and the rich ice-cream inside. But some years ago, Magnum launched a new marketing campaign, labelling each of their ice-creams with one of the seven deadly sins. There were names like “sloth” (caramel swirl ice cream and chocolate),“revenge” (raspberry ripple ice cream and dark chocolate) and “greed” (tiramisu, amaretti and chocolate). My favourite (champagne ice-cream and white chocolate) was ‘vanity’. It never felt as good after that. Why is it that something as good as a Magnum ice-cream is associated with sin? Why is it that pleasure is often associated with evil? This is the topic of this week’s podcast: The Theology of Chocolate - how our twisted ideas turned God into a killjoy. (NB. Some of you are thinking this is an overzealous rant designed to justify a chocolate binge at Easter, and you may be right). Magnum’s marketing campaign reinforces the idea that eating something enjoyable is sinful and therefore eati