The program of the MGRW-Seminar at this year’s Annual Meeting of the SBL in Denver is now online.

Meals in the Greco-Roman World
11/17/2018
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Room TBD – Hotel TBD

Theme: Transformative Ritual and the Textual Transmission of Early Christian Meal Texts
Changes in the ritual practice of Christian meals have influenced the transmission of New Testament and early Christian texts that concern meals. This is the working hypotheses of the network “Mahl und Text” of eight doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in Europe, funded by the German Research Foundation. The aim of the network is to investigate correlations between transformation processes from Symposium to Eucharist on the one hand, and variants in the manuscript tradition of New Testament and early Christian that concern meals, or the larger editorial phenomena attested by the manuscripts of those texts, on the other. The aim of this session is to present and discuss the work of this research network.

Jan Heilmann, Technische Universität Dresden, Presiding (5 min)
Benedikt Eckhardt, University of Edinburgh
Textual Variants in Justin, 1 Apology 65-67 (30 min)
Kevin Künzl, Technische Universität Dresden
The Meal in the Letters of Ignatius: Textual Variants as Evidence for Transforming Practice and Theology (30 min)
Tobias Flemming, Technische Universität Dresden
The Ritual Practice of Christian Meals and New Testament Textual Variants (30 min)
Soham Al-Suadi, Universität Rostock, Respondent (10 min)
Jennifer Knust, Boston University, Respondent (15 min)
Anni Hentschel, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Panelist
Peter Smit, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Panelist
Discussion (30 min)

Meals in the Greco-Roman World
11/18/2018
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Room TBD – Hotel TBD

Theme: The Archeology of Ancient Meals – in Honour of Dennis E. Smith: A co-sponsored session
Co-sponsored by Westar Institute

Hal Taussig, Presiding (5 min)
Other (10 min)
A Tribute by Joe Tyson read by Hal Taussig
Matthias Klinghardt, Technische Universität Dresden
The Meal in its Non-literary and Literary Worlds (30 min)
L. Michael White, University of Texas at Austin
Changing Patterns of Communal Dining in the Ostia Synagogue (30 min)
Susan M. Elliott, Independent Scholar
Next Came the Letter: Listening with Dennis E. Smith to Paul’s Letters in the Context of Household Gatherings (30 min)
Discussion (45 min)

Meals in the Greco-Roman World
11/19/2018
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Room TBD – Hotel TBD

Theme: The Economics of Meals

Chan Sok Park, College of Wooster, Presiding (5 min)
Jin Hwan Lee, Independent Scholar
Meals for All, All for Meals (30 min)
Gregg Gardner, The University of British Columbia
Poverty, Charity, and the Economics of Sabbath Meals in Early Judaism (30 min)
Karen Connor McGugan, Harvard University
Hungering and thirsting for resurrection: Origen’s “On First Principles” and the realities of food scarcity in antiquity (30 min)
Andrew McGowan, Yale Divinity School
“Having their fill of the loaves”: Early Christian meals and ancient bread distribution (30 min)
Discussion (25 min)