113. Modest and Malnourished: When Purity Culture Baptizes Dieting Culture (ft. Anna Rollins)
From The Bible Uncut and Unfiltered by Colin Connor
March 8, 2026 · 59 min · Season 7 · Episode 8
About this episode
Anna Rollins discusses the parallels between dieting culture and purity culture in the evangelical church, exploring themes of self-control and body image.
Over the past month, we’ve been exploring the sacred overlap of food and faith. But there’s a shadow side to that story that is rarely addressed. This week, Anna Rollins joins us to talk about her new book Famished and the unexpected similarities between dieting culture and purity culture in the evangelical church. What happens when self-control becomes the highest spiritual virtue? When hunger, whether for food or intimacy, is treated as sin? When women are taught that needing anything is evidence of moral failure? Drawing from her own experience with scrupulosity and disordered eating, Anna names the ways church language and practice around fasting, modesty, self-discipline, and even potlucks can quietly form bodies in shame rather than grace. We talk about why abstaining becomes a badge of holiness, how purity culture intensifies body surveillance, and what it might look like for churches to recover a theology that sees embodiment as good. If you’ve ever felt watched, measured, or not enough in church spaces, this conversation can help you breathe again—and maybe even find grace and acceptance at the table. Be sure to check out Anna’s website which links to her new book and…
People in this episode
Host: Colin Connor
Guest: Anna Rollins
Topics covered
- purity culture
- dieting culture
- evangelical church
- self-control
- disordered eating
- body image
- theology of embodiment
Keywords
- purity culture
- dieting culture
- evangelical church
- self-control
- disordered eating
- body surveillance
- theology
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Famished
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