Publication details
Večeře Páně v Korintu : k archeologii sociálního konfliktu
| Title in English | The Lord's supper in Corinth : towards the archaeology of social conflict |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2006 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Religio : revue pro religionistiku |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Philosophy and religion |
| Keywords | early Christianity; Corinth; Paul of Tarsus; sociology; archaeology; social conflict |
| Description | The so-called "new consensus", achieved at the turn of the 1970's and the 1980's by a group of sociologically inlined New Testament scholars (A. Malherbe, G. Theissen, W. A. Meeks, J. Murphy-O'Connor), shifted the hitherto socio-historical research of earliest Christianity to a new level. Although their conclusions differed in details, they all stated that early Christian communities were not homogenously proletarian, but socially stratified. Their argumentation was built mainly on new analyses of Paul's letters, providing unique evidence of social tensions and differences among early Christians. The article reconsiders the recent discussion provoked by Justin J. Meggitt's book Paul, Poverty and Survival (1998), which questioned the "new consensus" and reasserted the theory of social homogeneity and equal mutualism within the early Christian churches. The main attention is focused on the conflict over the Lord's Supper in Corinth (1 Cor. 11:17-34) and its analysis from an archaeological perspective (J. Murphy-O'Connor, D. G. Horrell). Archaeological suggestions are considered as an important contribution which can deepen the current discussions on social stratification of the Corinthian church and support the "new consensus" with a larger body of evidence. The author stresses the complementary character of archaeological and textual methods used in the socio-historical research of early Christian life. |