More than 20 years ago, the Meals in the Greco Roman world program unit had its first meeting. It was established as a consultation at the 2002 SBL Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada. The program of the 2002 consultation, entitled “Meals in the Greco-Roman World: Defining a Research Field” consisted of six papers.

Tomb stele, Cyzicus (Mysia), Hellenistic period (photo: Jan Heilmann)

In 2003, Dennis E. Smith and Matthias Klinghardt presented their work, which – as the so called Klinghardt-Smith paradigm and the leading typology describing ancient meals – became fundamental for the Meals in the Greco-Roman world seminar. In the last 20 years, the Meals in the Greco-Roman world seminar hosted 40 Sessions at 19 SBL annual meetings (we had a pause due to the pandemic), 111 paper were presented. You can find a list of all sessions, papers and summaries of the papers of the SBL annual meeting on this blog.

In 2011, as a co-sponsor of the Collaborative Research Center 804 “Transzendenz und Gemeinsinn”, the seminar “Meals in the Greco-Roman World” organized a conference on “Meals and Religious Identity in Early Christianity” in Dresden, Germany. The work of the seminar is documented in three anthologies. In addition, several dissertations and books around the world have been influenced by the work of the unit, and many articles based on papers presented at the sessions or influenced by the work of the unit have been published in high-impact international journals.

Jan Heilmann, Soham Al-Suadi, Matthias Klinghardt, Andrew McGowan, SBL Annual Meeting in San Antonio (2023)

But that’s all just statistics. After more than 20 years 2023 in San Antonio, Matthias Klinghardt, Soham Al-Suadi, and Andrew McGowan were looking back on 20 years of successful research on behalf of many scholars who were involved in the program unit. Both the panel and the plenum agreed that it was worth continuing the work with a new focus on late antiquity. A designated steering committee is currently working on a proposal for the continuation of the program unit and we hope to be able to continue the work under a new name from 2024. 

At this year’s meeting the MGRW seminar invites to three sessions. We are looking forward to a rich program.

11/19/2023
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 214B (Meeting Room Level) – San Antonio Convention Center

Theme: Meals in Late Antiquity

Chan Sok Park, College of Wooster, Presiding (4 min)

Orit Malka, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Koinonia and Ḥavurah: The Communal Meal in Rabbinic Literature (30 min)
Tag(s): Rabbinic Literature (Early Jewish Literature – Rabbinic Literature), History of Judaism (History & Culture), Greco-Roman Period (History & Culture)

Lillian Larsen, University of Redlands
Monastic Meal Practice: Re-“modeling” Late Antique Dining Norms (30 min)
Tag(s): Church History and Ecclesiology (Other), Greco-Roman Period (History & Culture)

Discussion (13 min)

Andrew Bowden, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
The Social Implications of the Jewish Authorities’ Consumption of Foods in Matthew 23 (30 min)
Tag(s): Gospels – Matthew (Biblical Literature – New Testament), Gospels (Biblical Literature – New Testament), New Testament (Biblical Literature – New Testament)

Carlos Garcia, University of Notre Dame
Jubilees: A Window into Second Temple Meal Tradition and Theology (30 min)
Tag(s): Greco-Roman Period (History & Culture), Deuterocanonical Works (Biblical Literature – Deuterocanonical Works), Jewish Pseudepigrapha (Early Jewish Literature – Jewish Pseudepigrapha)

Discussion (13 min)

11/18/2023
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 216B (Meeting Room Level) – San Antonio Convention Center

Theme: Meals in the Greco-Roman World: A Retrospective after Two Decades

Jan Heilmann, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Presiding (5 min)

Matthias Klinghardt, Technische Universität Dresden, Panelist (20 min)

Soham Al-Suadi, Universität Rostock, Panelist (20 min)

Andrew McGowan, Yale Divinity School, Panelist (20 min)

Joint Session With: Redescribing Christian Origins, Meals in the Greco-Roman World
11/20/2023
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 007A (River Level) – San Antonio Convention Center

Theme: Redescribing the Last Supper

Shaily Patel, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Presiding (10 min)

Soham Al-Suadi, Universität Rostock
Redescribing Early Christian Meals: The Approach of SBL’s Meals in the Greco-Roman World Seminar (20 min)
Tag(s): New Testament (Biblical Literature – New Testament), Gospels (Biblical Literature – New Testament)

Andrew McGowan, Yale Divinity School
Last Supper Story and Eucharistic Prayer Revisited (20 min)
Tag(s): Greco-Roman Period (History & Culture), Church History and Ecclesiology (Other)

Chan Sok Park, College of Wooster and Jan Heilmann, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Redescribing the Last Supper Narratives in the Synoptic Gospels and in 1 Corinthians 11 (20 min)
Tag(s): Gospels (Biblical Literature – New Testament), New Testament (Biblical Literature – New Testament)

Robyn Faith Walsh, University of Miami
Gospel Anonymity and Pauline Erasure in the Last Supper Narrative (20 min)
Tag(s): Gospels (Biblical Literature – New Testament), Pauline Epistles (Biblical Literature – New Testament)

Discussion (60 min)

We cordially invite you to two sessions of the MGRW seminar at this year’s SBL Annual Meeting in Denver.

Meals in the Greco-Roman World
11/19/2022
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 707 (Street Level) – Convention Center (CC)

Theme: Meals in Matthew and in John’s Revelation

Jan Heilmann, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Presiding (5 min)

Andrew Bowden, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
“Food” and “Drink” in the Gospel of Matthew as a Means for Promoting Corporate Identity: An Examination of Matthew 15 (30 min)
Tag(s): Gospels – Matthew (Biblical Literature – New Testament), Greco-Roman Literature (Greco-Roman Literature)

Nathan Leach, University of Texas at Austin
Ascetic Meal Practices and Discourses in Revelation (30 min)
Tag(s): Revelation (Biblical Literature – New Testament), Greco-Roman Period (History & Culture)

Andrew McGowan, Yale Divinity School, Respondent (15 min)

Susan Elliott, Respondent (15 min)

Discussion (30 min)

Business Meeting (25 min)

Meals in the Greco-Roman World
11/20/2022
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Mile High 2B (Lower Level) – Convention Center (CC)

Theme: The Revolution of 21st Century Korean Church Worship Meals

Chan Sok Park, College of Wooster, Presiding (5 min)

Hal Taussig, Westar Institute, Introduction (5 min)

Henrike Dilling, University of Rostock and University of Greifswald
Meals in the Greco-Roman World: Twenty-Five Years of Research (20 min)
Tag(s): Greece and Hellenism (History & Culture), History of Christianity (History & Culture), Greece/Greek (Greco-Roman Literature)

Discussion (20 min)

Jungjae Lee, Hongdae Dining Church, Lee Daeun, Yega Church and Jang Yeongjin, Yega Church
The Worship Revolution of Some Twenty-First Century Korean Church Meals (20 min)
Tag(s): Ritual & Sacrifice (Comparative Religion / History of Religion), Greco-Roman Period (History & Culture)

Discussion (25 min)

Miseon Choi, Claremont School of Theology
The Relationship between Particular Korean Churches’ Twenty-First Century Meals and the First/Second Century Mediterranean Christ People’s Meals (20 min)
Tag(s): Greco-Roman Period (History & Culture)

Discussion (20 min)

Discussion (15 min)

The MGRW seminar has planned three sessions for 2022: a) (Proposals are welcome for this session.) A session on non-canonical sources and meals which have not yet been the focus of the seminar’s attention. In what ways do the so-called apocryphal writings reflect lived meal practices in early Christianity? How do these sources fit into the dynamic development of the early Christian communal meal as it evolves into the Eucharist as an act of individual appropriation of salvation in late antiquity? This session is co-sponsored by the Redescribing Christian Origins seminar which have also planned another, more general session on non-canonical sources. Please see the CFP of the Redescribing Christian Origins group for more details. b) The second session on meals in Matthew and in John’s Revelation is a postponed session from 2021. c) The third session is by invitation only and features interaction between churches in the Republic of Korea practicing worship meals based on their understanding and research of early Christ people meals of the first and second centuries, and SBL scholars. This group of churches, led by the Yega Presbyterian Church in Seoul, translated and published in Korea the book, In the Beginning Was the Meal: Social Experimentation and Early Christian Identity (Hal Taussig, Fortress, 2009). MGRW subscribes to SBL’s Professional Conduct Policy and is committed to SBL’s core values, particularly those of critical inquiry, inclusivity, accountability, and professionalism.

Pleas klick here for your proposal: https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/AnnualMeeting.aspx

The MGRW seminar has planned two sessions for 2021: a) an open session, the first we’ve done in a very long time. We encourage those interested to consult our website https://mgrw.hypotheses.org/ in order to gain a sense of what topics have and have not been pursued by this seminar and how. We are very much looking forward to your proposals. b) The second session is by invitation only and features interaction between churches in the Republic of Korea practicing worship meals based on their understanding and research of early Christ people meals of the first and second centuries, and SBL scholars. This group of churches, led by the Yega Presbyterian Church in Seoul, translated and published in Korea the book, In the Beginning Was the Meal: Social Experimentation and Early Christian Identity (Hal Taussig, Fortress, 2009). The 20-year-academic trajectory of the early Christ people meals and of the SBL Seminar on Meals in the Greco-Roman world will be the subject of the first paper. The second paper will be a cross-cultural study by a group from the Korean churches and American scholars examining Christian vocabularies about worship-related meals: eucharist, communion, Lord’s supper, agape, and symposium. Third will be a description and visual presentation of “The Revolution of 21st Century Korean Church Worship Meals”. Finally, Korean Church representatives will describe their experience of the relationship between their 21st century church meals in relationship to the meals of Christ people in the first and second century.

https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_CallForPaperDetails.aspx?MeetingId=39&VolunteerUnitId=145

This response was held during the 2020 Annual Meetings of the SBL on Zoom. (The program of the session could be found here.)

Let me first say that you three made my job easy. Each paper offered new and fascinating insights. You offered the only kind of feast we can share virtually and it’s a pleasure to dine with you. Further you share some of the tables set in Luke and John, so your papers speak to each other, giving us much to reflect upon as we move from one stage of our meal to the next.

Nils, you bring a new approach to a question that has long interested this group, were there women at Meals? Which meals? How did that work? You are wonderfully clear in the way you ask the question: “What happens if a female takes part” in a symposium? Applying your exploration to the gender conflicts in Luke 7:36-52, as a woman shows up and washes the feet of Jesus. You considered narrative schemes in light of Propp and Eco and offered fruitful intertexts of women entering (or not entering) banquets, in the banquets of Xenophron by Demonsthenes (4^th c BCE), Philodamos by Cicero (1^st c BCE) and Lysimachos by Diogenes Laertios (3^rd c CE), as well as naming the rarity of the phenomenon. No one wishes for longer papers in virtual formats, but I did wish there was more time to spend on your findings. Your wonderfully succinct list of functions “in at least two” of the sources begs to be really explored, and I trust you will do that in another format.

The MGRW seminar is hosting one virtual session within the 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting of the SBL. We cordially invite you to attend. The program of the session:

Meals in the Greco-Roman World
12/02/2020
10:00 AM (3 PM GMT; 4PM WET) to 12:00 PM (5 PM GMT; 6pm WET)

Theme: Meals and Water Rites/Meals, Affect, and Religious Experience

Chan Sok Park, College of Wooster, Presiding

Henrike Dilling, University of Rostock
Water Rites as Structuring Elements in Ancient Meals: An Examintaion of the Footwashing in John 12 and 13 (25 min)
Tag(s): Greece and Hellenism (History & Culture), New Testament (Ideology & Theology), Gospels – John (Biblical Literature – New Testament)

Paul Olatubosun Adaja, Loyola University of Chicago
The Cup and the Development of Bread-and-Water Eucharist (25 min)
Tag(s): 1 Esdras (Biblical Literature – Deuterocanonical Works)

Nils Neumann, Leibniz Universität Hannover
Gender Role Conflicts, Violence, and Emotions in Ancient Symposia (25 min)
Tag(s): Gospels – Luke (Biblical Literature – New Testament), Social-Scientific Approaches (Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology) (Interpretive Approaches), Narrative Criticism (Interpretive Approaches)

Susan Marks, New College of Florida, Respondent (20 min)

In a few days, the Annual Meeting of the SBL starts. The MGRW seminar has planned three sessions. A warm invitation is extended to everyone to attend.

Meals in the Greco-Roman World
11/23/2019
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 31A (Upper Level East) – Convention Center

Theme: Reading and Interpretive Activity during Ancient Meals

Susan Marks, New College of Florida, Presiding (10 min)

Jan Heilmann, Technische Universität Dresden
Ancient Literary Culture and Meals in the Greco-Roman World: The Role of Reading during Ancient Symposia (30 min)
Tag(s): Roman Empire (History & Culture), Social-Scientific Approaches (Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology) (Interpretive Approaches), Rome/Latin (Greco-Roman Literature)

Break (5 min)

Jonas Leipziger, Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg
Ancient Jewish Reading Practices and the Greco-Roman Meal Tradition (30 min)
Tag(s): Hebrew Bible / Old Testament / Greek OT (Septuagint) (Biblical Literature – Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Hellenistic Period (History & Culture), Jewish (Ideology & Theology)

Andrew McGowan, Yale Divinity School, Respondent (20 min)

Discussion (30 min)

Chan Sok Park, College of Wooster, Presiding (5 min)

Jon-Paul Lapeña, Harvard Divinity School
Contextualizing Paul’s Rhetoric of the μέθυσος: Attitudes Toward Drunkenness and Its Stigma in the Early Imperial Period (25 min)
Tag(s): Greco-Roman Literature (Greco-Roman Literature), Material Culture (Archaeology & Iconography), Pauline Epistles (Biblical Literature – New Testament)

Kevin Künzl, Technische Universität Dresden
Drinking like Jesus: Symposiastic Ethics in Clement of Alexandria (25 min)
Tag(s): Early Christian Literature (Early Christian Literature – Other), Ethics (Ideology & Theology)

Jordan D. Rosenblum, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“The Wine of the Region”: Brewing Religion and the Translation of Rabbinic Ritual from a Palestine to a Babylonian Context (25 min)
Tag(s): Rabbinic Literature (Early Jewish Literature – Rabbinic Literature), History of Judaism (History & Culture), Religious Traditions and Scriptures (History of Interpretation / Reception History / Reception Criticism)

Lillian I. Larsen, University of Redlands
Wine Is Not for Monks? (25 min)
Tag(s): Daily Life (Archaeology & Iconography), Material Culture (Archaeology & Iconography), Ancient Near East – Late Antiquity (History & Culture)

Vadim Putzu, Missouri State University, Respondent (15 min)

Richard DeMaris, Valparaiso University, Introduction (10 min)

Soham Al-Suadi, Universität Rostock, Panelist (15 min)

Rikard Roitto, Stockholm School of Theology, Panelist (15 min)

Hal Taussig, Westar Institute, Panelist (15 min)

Colleen Shantz, St Michael’s College, University of Toronto, Panelist (15 min)

Richard Ascough, Queen’s University, Panelist (15 min)

Jonathan Schwiebert, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Panelist (15 min)

Roundtable Discussion (25 min)

Discussion (25 min)

 We have planned three sessions: 1) Reading and Interpretive Activity during Ancient Meals (open call): The Greco-Roman meal is one potential context for reading and interpreting texts. However, while research into meals more or less presupposes that people have read during ancient meals, broader investigations of this topic and detailed analyzes of the sources concerning reading practices during ancient meals are lacking. The aim of this session is to initiate a scholarly discourse about reading and interpretive activities during “pagan,” Jewish and Christian meals in the ancient and late antique Greco-Roman world. Therefore, we would like to address the following questions: 

What is the relation of the Roman institution of the recitatio, which was bound to the presence of the author, and ancient meals? Can we determine the role of meals for the ancient literary culture? Do we find evidence in Jewish and Christian sources for equivalent practices during their meals? Are there special values or conventions of ancient reading and interpretation practices during ancient meals, e.g., concerning the length, the function, the social participation?

2) Drinking and Intoxication in Ancient and Late Antique Meals (open call): We invite scholars to propose papers on any aspect of drinking, beverages and intoxication in the meals of the Hellenist and Roman or Late Antiquity. We look forward to perspectives from a variety of different communities. Were there specific beverages favored and why? Specific beverages rejected? And what does a focus on drinking reveal about the social relations within the group? These investigations can include arguments against intoxication as well as explorations of whether intoxication furthers access to the deity invoked or induces religious experiences, and how meals contribute to these questions. 3) Two New Handbooks: Meals and Ritual (co-sponsored, invited speakers only).

For your proposals:

https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_CallForPaperDetails.aspx?MeetingId=35&VolunteerUnitId=145

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)

We have planned three sessions: 1) The Economics of Meals (open call); 2) Transformative Ritual and the Textual Transmission of Early Christian Meal Texts (invited papers only); and 3) The Archeology of Ancient Meals (invited papers only). 1) The Economics of Meals: We invite scholars to propose papers on the economics of meals. In focusing on the social interactions around meals we must also think about what resources it takes to make a meal. Possible topics include: What is the role that economics plays in ancient discourses on meals? What sources provide evidence for minimum food intake and how does this impact our understanding of meals? How do economics relate to various laws about early meals? Are there models from the social sciences that are helpful for interpreting source materials on meals and economics? 2) 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 meal texts. 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 meal texts, 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. 3) The Archeology of Ancient Meals – in Honour of Dennis E. Smith: A co-sponsored session, details to follow.

https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_CallForPaperDetails.aspx?MeetingId=33&VolunteerUnitId=145