Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The State of the Question -- 3. Role of Meal Scenes and Discourses on Food and Drink in the Narrative of the Fourth Gospel -- 4. Meals as Construction Sites for Identity in the Hellenistic Mediterranean: Comparison with Other Groups -- 5. Discursive I: John and “the Eucharist” -- 6. Discursive II: Mystery Cults -- 7. Discursive III: Chewing the Flesh of Jesus -- 8. Historical Context: Betrayal at Table -- 9. Conclusion -- 10. Appendix: Jesus on a Diet? The Abstemious Jesus -- Bibliography -- Index of Passages -- Index of Subjects.

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This book explores the accounts of communal meals and the metaphorical use of food and drink language in the narrative world of the Gospel of John. It argues that the Johannine community regularly gathered for communal meals in which the food and drink on the menu would have taken on a spiritual significance far exceeding the physical sustenance. The study employs a socio-rhetorical methodology and consequently moves from text to context. It tentatively describes the texts’ influence on the formation of early Christian identity and suggests that the Johannine meal accounts provide a way to imagine the demographic composition of the community and its historical context.