From Symposium to Eucharist: The Banquet in the Early Christian World

427 Pages·2003·54.65 MB·English

by  Dennis E. Smith

FROM SYMPOSIUM
TO EUCHARIST

FROM SYMPOSIUM
TO EUCHARIST
THE BANQUET IN THE
EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD
DENNIS E. SMITH
FORTRESS PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS
FROM SYMrGSIUM TO EUCHARIST
TheBanquctintheEarlyChri~tianWorld
Copyright 0 2003 Augsburg Fortrus. All righu reserved. Except for brief quotations in criti
cal artid.-s or n'Views, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior
written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Augsburg Fonras, BoJ 1209,
Minne:~.polis,MN5S440.
~r ul: Banquet san.-s from a Roman mos:aic, Canhagc, filth ccnrury C.l. Mwic
National du Bardo, Tunis, Tunisia. Copyrigh1 0 Gilles Mermct fAn Resource, New York.
U5ed.bypermission.
Bookdcsign:BethWright
Interior illustrations {pp. 15, 1G . and 17) an: by Romney Oualline Ncsbin and an: copyright
0 2002 Romney Oualline Nabitt and Dennis E. Smith.
Scriptun: qu01ations from me New Revised Standard Version Bible an: copyright 0 1989 by
the Division ofChriSI~n Educ:nion of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
USAandan:usedbypermission.
The uamlnion of the ~r ~~liturgy on pp. 147-49 is from Gordon J. &hr, MThe
Stdcrofl'assoverand the Eucharistic Words,~ in Nuvum Tntammtum 12 {1970): 181-202,
andisusedbypermissionofBriiiAcademicl'ublishers.
LibrtlrJ DjConpru Cuafoging-in-l'ubliwiDn Data
Smith, Dennis Edwin, dire-
From symposium to Eucharist : the banquet in the <':ltly Christian world
/Dennis E. Smith.
p.cm.
Includes bibliognphial ~nccs and indo:.
ISBN0-8006->489-6{pbk.. :alk..p.aper)
I. Lord's Supper-History. l.lide.
BV823.S62 2002
264'.36'09-dcll
2002152641
The paper used in this publication meers the minimum requirementS of American National
Standard for Information S.:ienc.-s-Permanence of Paper for Prim~ Library Materials,
ANSIZ329.48-1984.
ManuF..cruud in the Canada
07 06 05 04 03 10

$11
CONTENTS
Prtfou ix
1. The Banquet as Social Institution
2. The Greco-Roman Banquet 13
3. The Philosophical Banquet 47
4. The Sacrificial Banquet 67
5. The Oub Banquet 87
Excursuus:
Sratutti ofthr Co~ ofD Uma and Antinous 126
Srarurrsofthrlobakchoi 129
6. The Jewish Banquet 133
7. The Banquet in the Churches of PauJ 173
8. The Banquet in the Gospels 219
9. The Banquet and Christian Theology 279
Abbrrviatiom 289
No us 295
BibLiography 361
!ndrx ofA ncimt Sourus 389
lntkx ofSubjtcts 407
li!il VII
VIII ~ CONTENTS
liST OF IllUSTRATIONS
Figure 1: A Typical Greek Dining Room 15
Figure2: A Stone Couch from the Dining Room
of the Asdepius Sanctuary at Corinth 15
Figure3: Reconstruction of a Greek Symposium 16
Figure4: Reconstruction of a Roman Banquet
in a Triclinium 17