The History of Fasting in Religion

Historically, fasting has served as a way to expiate sin and become worthy of God’s grace. It had to do with releasing emotions and connecting our souls with the sacred, particularly at significant transition points. In addition to being seen as preparation for divine revelation, fasting is a prelude to important events in a person’s life. Through these mechanisms, fasting became a means of transformation in religious and spiritual traditions.

Religious founders have consistently demonstrated fasting to be an effective method for receiving revelations and achieving transformation. Following their lead, religious and political leaders modeled this behavior to create paradigm shifts – in themselves and among the populace. In response, followers have fasted, in accordance with established doctrines and as a personal prescription for obtaining transcendence. Particularly in literate cultures, fasting is used to develop spiritual powers and to overcome corporality (von Braun, 2007).

In the major religions, fasting has been mainly preparatory, purificatory, repentant, and supplicatory (Rader, 2005). Examination of how fasting has been used in world religions and spiritual traditions can offer further insight into how it has been used as a means of change.

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