T&T Clark Handbook to Early Christian Meals in the Greco-Roman World

Description

This handbook situates early Christian meals in their broader context, with a focus on the core topics that aid understanding of Greco-Roman meal practice, and how this relates to Christian origins. In addition to looking at the broader Hellenistic context, the contributors explain the unique nature of Christian meals, and what they reveal about early Christian communities and the development of Christian identity. Beginning with Hellenistic documents and authors before moving on to the New Testament material itself, according to genre - Gospels, Acts, Letters, Apocalyptic Literature - the handbook culminates with a section on the wider resources that describe daily life in the period, such as medical documents and inscriptions. The literary, historical, theological and philosophical aspects of these resources are also considered, including such aspects as the role of gender during meals; issues of monotheism and polytheism that arise from the structure of the meal; how sacrifice is understood in different meal practices; power dynamics during the meal and issues of inclusion and exclusion at meals. Contents Introduction To T&T Clark Handbook To Early Part One Authors & Collections 1 Meals in the Works of Philo of Alexandria 2 Dining with Dignity 3 Plutarch’s Septem sapientium convivium 4 Meals at Qumran 5 Hermetic Texts in Nag Hammadi Codex VI 6 Meals in the Apostolic Fathers 7 ‘Prepare Yourself.’ Spatial Rhetoric in Rabbinic and Synoptic Meal Parables Part Two Gospel Tradition 8 The Gospel of Mark 9 Meals in the Gospel of Luke 10 The Primary Role of Meals in Matthew’s Construction of Diasporic Identity 11 ‘Let Anyone Who is Thirsty Come to Me, and Let the One Who Believes in Me Drink’ 12 Interpretations of the Eucharist in the Gospel of Phi Part Three Acts 13 Meals as a Literary Motif in Acts of the Apostles 14 The Contribution of Meal Scenes to the Narrative Theology of Acts of Paul 15 Eucharists and other Meals in the Apocryphal Acts of John and Acts of Andrew 16 Meals in Joseph and Aseneth Part Four Epistolary Literature 17 “The Meal in 1 Corinthians 11” 18 Meals in the Letter to the Romans 19 Pseudepigraphic Letters of Paul Soham 20 Meals in the Johannine Letters 21 Meals in the Further Epistolary Literature of the New Testament 22 Useless Foods: Communal Meals in Hebrews Part Five Apocalyptic Literature 23 Food in Fourth Ezra 24 Meals and Banqueting Culture in the Apocalypse of John Part Six Texts of Daily Life 25 Meals and Magic 26 Meals in Ancient Medicinal Texts 27 Material Meals Name Index Ancient Sources