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Making a Meal of It: Rethinking the Theology of the Lord's Supper

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This is a wonderful little book on the history, meaning, and current theological importance of The Lord's Supper. As someone who owns about 20 of Witherington's books I would rate this one quite highly ... O.K. who am I kidding, I'd rate nearly all of them highly.

Witherington's understanding of social setting and of discourse material are beautifully displayed in his chapter, "The Long Farewell," which explores the relationship of John (or should we say "Lazarus") chapter 13 ff. to the Last Supper and to Holy Week. ... Also notable is his chapter "The Table of the Entitled and the Table of the Lord" - an eyeopening explanation of the church at Corinth's situation around the meal.

"The Mystery of the Meal" is the closing chapter of this book and I found it both a challenging and a beautiful piece to read. It's discussions around "discerning the body" are pastorally helpful and theologically rooted in Ben's knowledge and wisdom displayed earlier in the book. Also, he uses two very moving stories near the end of this chapter (from his own experience), and the names Meltem and Georgio arose in one of my sermons almost as soon as I had finished this wonderful little offering.

This book will not appeal to most Roman Catholic readers - at least that is my impression as a (possibly very ignorant) protestant. But it will appeal to most Christians who want to be challenged and deepened in their appreciation of this central celebration of our faith.

Thank you Ben, for yet another gift to the church of Jesus.

Coming from a church of Christ background, this book was highly interesting. It does an excellent job of looking at the Biblical text as well as some of the early expressions of the Lord's Supper. This was one of the riches and best books of the year for me. Your mind will be expanded and your heart will be enriched.

I thoroughly enjoyed Making a Meal of It: Rethinking the Theology of the Lord's Supper by Ben Witherington III. This was one of about four books I read this past summer.

The book, which is somewhat small in page numbers, is a pretty heavy in content. In it, Ben explores the history of what many of us call communion/Lord's Supper. He begins with a study on the Passover. Why? Well, it seems it was on the night of Passover (very early, maybe even pre-mature to when Jews celebrated Passover) that Jesus introduced the Lord's Supper (the first communion). The book covers the biblical background to communion very well. When you finish reading this book you walk away feeling as if you have a complete biblical grasp on communion and its roots.

Another great thing about this book is that it takes you beyond the scriptures in learning about communion. You get a good dose of church history while reading this book. Ben traces the transformation of the communion meal from the Early Church Fathers into something entirely different (all happened within just a few centuries of its beginnings). I felt this book was very comprehensive in its coverage of communion.

Theologically speaking, there is plenty to whet your whistle. Ben isn't just attempting to trace the roots of communion, but to explain its importance and role in the 21st Century. This is a great book to help shape and form your perspective on communion (it sure has been helpful to me!). As a bonus, you could easily take the sections/chapters of this book and craft them into sermon(s). You could do a whole series of sermons on communion based off of this book. Great sermon fodder here!

Among Christians, few topics are both as important and as debated as the meaning and practice of the Lord's Supper. And Dr. Witherington has done us all a favor in writing a book in which he attempts to get beyond the rhetoric and debate, taking a fresh look at the biblical texts, the early Christian writings, and the theological developments up to the present age. There is much here that challenges just about every 'tradition,' be it the Roman Catholic sacramental version to the simple ordinance of the Baptists. Dr. Witherington surely brings a weighty discussion, but does so with winsomeness and humility along the way. I especially appreciate the way he drives the discussion right back to its proper place - not so much the meal on the table, but the Lord who invites us there.

Dr. Witherington does a great job of showing the Hebrew roots of the Lord's Supper and how it looks back on the Exodus from sin accomplished by Christ just as Passover looks back on the Exodus from Egypt. The author expounds all of the salient texts from the Old and New Testaments, though in my view, he spends a tad too much time defending his view of the authorship of the Fourth Gospel.

He shows how the Lord's Supper was offered in the context of a love feast in 1 Corinthians 11, and that the Corinthians were treating it like one of their pagan guild meals where favoritism is extended to the wealthy and well off.

He also notes that the NT texts we have about the Supper are tantalizing not only for what they do say, but what they don't say. However, Dr. Witherington interprets them quite well, and then he challenges us to take the Supper more often and with proper reverence and reflection.