Paul And Common Meal - Re-Socialization of the Christian Community

This book deals with the Paul's attitude to the social dynamics of Pauline community's practice of the common meal. A study of Paul's attitude to the common meals would help us to see as to how far Paul could identify with the socio-cultural practices of first century CE Greco- Roman world and to what extent he dissociated himself from such contexts by virtue of his Christian convictions. The objective of Paul in the continuation of common meal is the social integration of diverse social units of the church thereby strengthening the community life of believers in the Lord.

The work is a valuable compendium of research on meals in Judaic and antiquity.

George Philip, MA (Sociology), MA (Philosophy), M.Th, D.Th (New Testament), is an associate professor of New Testament and Greek language at Bethel Bible College, Guntur, A.P. Earlier he taught at MBCBC (Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College), Shamshabad, Telangana (2007-09). He has also authored several articles in various journals. Now, he stays in Guntur with his wife, Priya and children, Aksa and Jerim.

Writing a foreword for Dr. George Philip's Paul and Common Meal. Re-Socialization of the Christian Community is a particularly interesting challenge. As the genre of the foreword is usually employed to recommend a book, it would seem that this publication wouldn't need one: it recommends itself because of its scholarly originality and acumen; its theological and ecclesial relevance. I will therefore restrict myself from commenting on a number of bridges that this publication builds. These are bridges between scholarly disciplines, between traditions in early Christianity and between theological research and ecclesial practice. Finally, this foreword itself is also expressive of a further bridge that is being built. Dr. Philip and I first met at the Maramon Convention in 2014, when I was visiting the Mar Thoma Syrian Church as part of a delegation of the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht. The goal of the visit was a meeting of the theological commission for the ecumenical dialogue between the two churches, seeking to discover the unity that may exist between them. Conversations between the two churches are still ongoing.

This book is a revised form of my doctoral thesis which I submitted to the Senate of Serampore College (University) in 2015. I edited my thesis in order to suit it to a wider readership. Some portions are abridged and some technical details are removed without diluting the basic thesis. Common meal is a signifier of the socio-economic and religious status of participants. Pauline community gathered for meals in accordance with the customs of the day. These meal gatherings created social tension and subsequent theological problems in Corinth, Antioch and Galatia. A study of Paul's attitude to common meals would help us to see as to how far Paul could identify with the socio-cultural practices of first century CE Greco-Roman world and to what extent he dissociated himself from such contexts by virtue of his Christian convictions. This book deals with the meal practices of Pauline community and Paul's attitude to the social dynamics of the early Christian groups.

Five passages have been selected under this research. The selected passages are interpreted based on the Greco-Roman and Jewish social background. This research made use of the results of historical and cultural studies and theological traditions to understand the perceptual difference between Paul and the Pauline community. Paul identified the ill-effects of the meal tradition that affected the Pauline community and corrected it with the agapaic nature of Jesus' meals. The objective of Paul in the continuation of common meal is the social integration of diverse social units and strengthening the community life of believers in the Lord.