This book seeks to demonstrate that the fellowship meal traditions in the ancient world form the background against which the Lords Supper must be understood. Likewise, the basis of Pauls response to the situation in Corinth and his theology of the Lords Supper is to be found in the fellowship meal traditions.
The book begins with a study of fellowship meal traditions in the Greco-Roman and Jewish societies. The roles and functions of the fellowship meal in these cultures indicate that the fellowship meal was an important institution and it played a pivotal role in the functioning of their...