Of Widows and Meals: Communal Meals in the Book of Acts

by Reta Halteman Finger

Though "community" has become a common byword in the contemporary Western church, the practice of communal sharing has effectively fallen by the wayside. Unfortunately, it is often the poor who are left wanting because we no longer come together. Reta Halteman Finger finds a solution to this modern problem by learning from the ancient Mediterranean Christian culture of community. In the earliest Jerusalem church, in holding the responsibility for preparing and serving communal meals, women were given a place of honor. With the table fellowship and goods sharing of the early church, Luke says, "there were no needy persons among them" (Acts 4:34). Finger thoroughly examines this agape-meal tradition, challenging traditional interpretations of the "community of goods" in the Jerusalem church and proving that the communal sharing lasted for hundreds of years longer than previously assumed. Of Widows and Meals begins a discussion of need in community that can revolutionize the contemporary church's interaction with the world at large.

Genres: Biblical Studies, New Testament, Church

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 15, 2007

Reviews

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for research. I learned some cool things about the meals recorded in the NT.

[Ross Heckmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book that deals with extremely important and timely subjects, including, among others, Christians of every class or sort sharing goods and meals at a common table, as referred to in the Bible (particularly the Book of Acts) and in some early Christian literature, and what such sharing meant, particularly in light of what was practiced in those times and places both by mainstream society and by alternative groups. This background is really essential in order for us to not read back into the ancient text our own, modern practices, which are radically different. The book concludes with what this all might mean for the present day, giving specific examples of Christian groups where Christian of every class or sort share meals at a common table.

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

Showed promise but the author spent so much time jumping through trivial academic hoops that the helpful points got lost. Dissertations should come with warning stickers that they're not intended for human consumption.

[Dennis Podryadchikov · Rating 3 out of 5]

A multi-level outlook on the meals in the Acts specifically and in the NT generally and its consequences for the contemporary church.