The Lord's Table : Eucharist and Passover in Early Christianity (Anniversary Collection)

Focusing on the imagery of the Last Supper, The Lord's Table is a provocative study of Jewish-Gentile relations through their symbolic rituals in the first century A.D. The author argues that the Last Supper, representing the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, was a reinterpretation of many different kinds of covenant meals, in scripture and in practice, that focused primarily on the Passover. By following the overall pattern of the Passover, yet inverting every critical element, the early church transformed the meaning of the meal and the sacrifice on which it was based into something quite different. Through anthropological and literary analysis, The Lord's Table brings to light how a ritual so intrinsic to modern Christian life was once so controversial and revolutionary.