Eating with Honor: The Corinthian Lord's Supper in Light of Voluntary Association Meal Practices (Critical Essay)

There has been increasing recognition by scholars studying the Greco-Roman world of the first century that a larger database of meal practices is desirable for understanding the social banqueting practices behind Paul's words concerning the Corinthian banquet of 1 Cor 11:17-33. Scholars such as Gerd Theissen, Wayne A. Meeks, Matthias Klinghardt, and Dennis E. Smith have mined the elite commensality literature of the ancients and have established that a standard form of the Greco-Roman banquet underlies practices of the time. (1) Rituals varied, however, and Andrew McGowan reminds us that "various groups seem to have had different explicit understandings and purposes in mind and to have used eating and drinking together in a variety of ritual forms." (2) Gerard Rouwhorst points out, citing Mary Douglas's work, that when a group constructs a ritual tradition, it is constructing a social identity: "Every meal--especially when taken together by more than one person--encodes significant messages about social and hierarchical patterns." (3) A study of banqueting traditions of Greco-Roman voluntary associations helps to clarify the role that the Mediterranean code of honor and shame played in establishing their social identity. As Jewish and Christian groups both saw themselves and were seen by others as voluntary associations, I suggest that similar social and hierarchical patterns based on the code of honor and shame of the Mediterranean world are evidenced in the banqueting traditions of the Corinthian community. (4) These social patterns, rather than the economic patterns of wealth and poverty, explain the divisions in the Corinthian community. Because the honor/shame code is a changeable value system rather than a fixed economic situation, I suggest that Paul is therefore able to propose radical changes to the Corinthian meal ritual in order to establish new social and behavioral patterns that reflect the values of humility, mutual upbuilding, and love that Jesus taught. In effect, Paul uses the meal ritual to create a new Christian social identity.