![]() Through the domestic meal scenes, Luke gives Jesus primacy whenever he is at table and by doing so provides instruction to the banquet communities that are gathering around meals to read/hear the message of Jesus. Mission in Luke-Acts reflects the actual domestic location of the early house churches Luke was addressing. This Lukan analysis demonstrates how the mission of Jesus was aided in these domestic settings. Special note of how Jesus acts at table, as well as critical questions concerning whether the author of Luke is using hospitality as a key motif, are explored. The Last Supper, or Eucharist, is deliberately avoided for numerous reasons one being that the initial remembrance of this event was celebrated within the context of actual domestic meals. The definition of mission and ministry within the context of Luke-Acts is outlined, and the pre-resurrection domestic meal scenes of the Lukan Jesus are analysed with a narrative theological and socio-scientific approach. The Greco-Roman Symposium has been offered by scholars as a theory for the basis of Jesus’ dining events in Luke, however, this theory was rejected for a number of reasons. Special attention is given to whether Jewish groups in this period, as well as Luke’s Gospel, were influenced or not by the Greco-Roman banquet tradition of the symposium. Regarding the Hebrew Bible, it will be shown that food and meals played a significant, if not central, role in Israel’s covenant identity with Yahweh, and with one another. ![]() And as such, an engagement with how food and hospitality was regarded within these texts and cultures is examined. ![]() The Hebrew Bible, ancient Near East, Greco-Roman banquet customs, and intertestamental Jewish literature provide the cultural and historical backdrop for Luke’s Gospel. Food needs to be taken more seriously in the theological enterprise, as does considering food as theology. Meals are universal “cultural sites” that enable human formation and deepen bonds with others. A definition of hospitality that sees its normal and natural expression through the sharing of meals is posited, rather than being defined as “welcoming strangers”. Although food preparation and cooks have been historically ignored by scholars, it is argued that hospitality is best expressed in the sharing of food. Though research and study into the various aspects of food have advanced in recent years through various disciplines, theological research has not been so generous in its handling of food. These two factors of mission and ministry in Luke through domestic hospitality can provide theological impetus for contemporary Christian communities to think and reflect more intentionally regarding food and hospitality in their own contexts. ![]() Secondly, in Luke-Acts provision of meals in homes was also a means of serving Christ and one another through table ministry. The aim of this thesis is to show how in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus and the early church relied on food and hospitality provided in homes to propagate the mission of bringing the good news of the kingdom of God to Israel, and subsequently to Gentiles. ![]()
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