Food offered to idols in 1 Corinthians 8-10 : a study of conflicting viewpoints in the setting of religious pluralism in Corinth
This thesis investigates the conflict which existed in Corinth around the mid-first century C.E concerning Christian involvement in cultic meals. Following a brief introduction, the state of scholarship is surveyed in Chapter 1 and it becomes apparent that the general emphasis has been either on detailed exegesis of Paul's teaching in 1 Cor.8-10 or on Greek/Oriental cultic meal evidence from Classical and Hellenistic times. Little attention has been paid to the actual nature and dynamics of the sacrificial food issue itself or to the Corinthians' own perceptions of such cultic events. Chapter Two deals with a contemporary case study of cultic meals among the Torajanese people of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Using literary evidence and detailed oral interviews, it emerges that among Christians, there exists a wide range of individual viewpoints regarding the nature and perceived significance of images, sacrifices and communal meals. This spectrum of opinion finds its root in the existence of genuine ambiguities, boundary definition problems and conceptual differences regarding the nature of divinity and humanity. The result has been the emergence of a large number of different perspectives on the validity of
Newton, Derek
Philosophy
Food offered to idols in 1 Corinthians 8-10 : a study of conflicting viewpoints in the setting of religious pluralism in Corinth. This thesis investigates the conflict which existed in Corinth around the mid-first century C.E concerning Christian involvement in cultic meals. Following a brief introduction, the state of scholarship is surveyed in Chapter 1 and it becomes apparent that the general emphasis has been either on detailed exegesis of Paul's teaching in 1 Cor.8-10 or on Greek/Oriental cultic meal evidence from Classical and Hellenistic times. Little attention has been paid to the actual nature and dynamics of the sacrificial food issue itself or to the Corinthians' own perceptions of such cultic events. Chapter Two deals with a contemporary case study of cultic meals among the Torajanese people of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Using literary evidence and detailed oral interviews, it emerges that among Christians, there exists a wide range of individual viewpoints regarding the nature and perceived significance of images, sacrifices and communal meals. This spectrum of opinion finds its root in the existence of genuine ambiguities, boundary definition problems and conceptual differences regarding the nature of divinity and humanity. The result has been the emergence of a large number of different perspectives on the validity of
food offer idol corinthians study conflict viewpoint set religious_pluralism corinth investigates conflict exist corinth concern christian involvement cultic meal following_brief introduction state scholarship survey becomes apparent general emphasis either detailed exegesis paul teach cor greek oriental cultic meal evidence classical_hellenistic time little_attention_pay actual nature dynamic sacrificial food issue corinthians perception cultic event two_deal contemporary case_study cultic meal among people south indonesia using literary_evidence detail oral interview emerge among christians exist wide_range individual viewpoint regard_nature perceive significance image sacrifice communal meal spectrum opinion find root existence genuine ambiguity boundary definition problem conceptual difference regard_nature divinity humanity emergence large_number different_perspective validity