Subversive Meals: An Analysis of the Lord's Supper under Roman Domination during the First Century

About this book

Subversive Meals examines the Lords Supper within the sociopolitical context of first-century Roman domination and concludes that it was an anti-imperial praxis. Although the Christian communal meal looked much like a typical Roman banquet in structure with a deipnon and a symposion it was essentially different. The Roman meal supported the empires ideology honored Caesar and the gods reinforced stratification among the masses and upheld Romes right to rule the world. The Christian meal on the other hand included hymns that extolled Jesus as Lord prophecies that challenged Romes ideological claims and letters-read aloud-that promoted egalitarianism and instructed believers on how to live according to kingdom of God principles. Hence the Christian banquet was an act of nonviolent resistance or what James C. Scott calls a "hidden transcript"