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Ascetic Eucharists

Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals

  • Hardback
  • 328 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • 14 x 21.6 x 2.3 cm

£211.01

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For scholars and enthusiasts of early Christian rituals

Reveals diversity in ancient Eucharistic practices

You will gain new insights into early Christian life

Explore the rich history of early Christian Eucharistic meals.

The early Eucharist has usually been seen as sacramental eating of token bread and wine in careful or even slavish imitation of Jesus and his earliest disciples. In fact the evidence suggests great diversity in its conduct, including the use of foods, in the first few hundred years. Eucharistic meals involving cheese, milk, salt, oil, and vegetables are attested, and some have argued that even fish was used. The most significant exception to using bread and wine, however, was a 'bread-and-water' Christian meal, an ancient ascetic form of the Eucharist. This tradition also involved rejection of meat from general diet, and reflected the concern of dissident communities to avoid the cuisine - meat and wine - characteristic of pagan sacrifice. This study describes and discusses these practices fully for the first time, and provides important new insights into the liturgical and social history of early Christianity.
Ascetic Eucharists and Seven Last Words
Seven Last WordsAscetic Eucharists

  • Title

    Ascetic Eucharists

  • Author

    Andrew McGowan

  • Book Format

    Hardback

  • Publisher

    Oxford University Press

  • Published

    May 1999

  • Weight

    568g

  • Page Count

    328

  • Dimensions

    14 x 21.6 x 2.3 cm

  • ISBN

    9780198269724

  • ISBN-10

    0198269722

  • Eden Code

    1147234

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