BOOK REVIEW - CONTAGIOUS HOLINESS: JESUS' MEALS WITH SINNERS BY CRAIG L. BLOMBERG

 

When Jesus ate with "tax-collectors and sinners," was it for the purpose of repentance? Did the meals fit a more traditional Jewish setting, or were they more patterned after the pagan Sypnosium of the Greco-Roman culture?

In "Contagious Holiness: Jesus' Meals with Sinners," author Craig Blomberg takes a look at meals during the Biblical era. First, he mentions two areas of debate:
1. Were the meals more after the Jewish tradition with the participants sitting at the table, or did it reflect influence by the Greeks and Romans, where those around at the table reclined with discussion, a lot of drinking, and usually some entertainment (often sexual)?
2. Were the "sinners" Jesus ate with the immoral, without Jesus offering any condemnation, or was it more those seen as impure by the Jewish Society with the goal of leading them to repentance?

Blomberg then launches into a study looking at meal customs through the Old Testament, extra-Biblical books including the Deutero-Canonical Books (also known as the Apocrypha) and the customs of the world, both Jewish and the conquering Greeks and Romans. He follows this up by analyzing Jesus meals in the Gospels, including the dinner with Matthew/Levi and his friends and his invitations by Pharisees, dividing it between the accounts exclusive to Luke and those that aren't.

This is the third book I've read from the New Studies in Biblical Theology series, and in each case, the conclusion and application segment is the best part of the book, as it gives practical ideas to live out what is learned. In this case, the encouragement is for Christians to invite people different from us (including unbelievers) for the purpose of getting to know them and be a witness to them. It gives several examples how this is done around the world, such as a Denver church called Scum of the Earth.

I do have a minor quibble. The author holds to the Priority of Mark (meaning Mark was the first Gospel written and along with an unfound quotation source called Q - no connection to Star Trek the Next Generation). In comparing the accounts of the Feeding of the 4,000 in Matthew and Mark, he commented that the order was different enough that he considers Matthew relying on oral tradition. Now wait a minute! Where was Matthew during this event? Wouldn't he have been there in the flesh with the other eleven and maybe other followers like Mathias? Couldn't Matthew's version be an eyewitness account? Okay, I'll get off my soapbox.

This book (and this series) is aimed at intellectuals, but it is easy to read and helps one understand the issue. I recommend this book (and again, the series).