Idol Food in Corinth: Jewish Background and Pauline Legacy

Abstract

Idol Food in Corinth: Jewish Background and Pauline Legacy, by Alex T. Cheung. JSNTSup 176. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999. Pp. 364. 55.00/$85.00. This substantial revision of Cheung's Westminster Theological Seminary dissertation is an important work that examines one of the longest sustained arguments on an ethical issue found in Scripture. The work is carefully argued and pays both thorough and fair attention to contemporary research on the passage. In addition, it gives exhaustive treatment to the issue of idol in early Christianity and argues a unique thesis that goes against the grain of almost all scholarly interpretation of this passage. Cheung's thesis is that in 1 Cor 8:1-11:1 Paul consistently and unequivocally opposes the eating of offered to idols. Paul gives two reasons for his prohibition: it is unloving (ch. 8) and it is idolatry (ch. 10). Paul's only caveat comes at the end of the argument, where he permits Christians to eat without constantly asking questions about the origin of food. But once Christians are aware that has been sacrificed to idols, they must not eat it. Cheung summarizes Paul's position as follows: To eat idol knowingly is to participate in idolatry; therefore, for the sake of the weak and for the sake of yourselves, avoid any if, and only if, you know that it is idol food (p. 162). After a brief introduction, ch. 1 addresses the social meaning of eating idol food. Following P. D. Gooch's work, particularly his archaeological findings, Cheung argues that all meals in temples in the first century would have involved idolatry and could not have been mere social occasions. Chapter 2 addresses the background of Paul's attitude toward idol in early Judaism. Cheung sees a strong, virtually universal abstinence from idol meat as a boundary marker for Jews, even those who seem quite open to accommodation with the surrounding Hellenistic culture. Chapter 3 presents the central argument through an exegetical investigation of 1 Cor 8:1-11:1. Cheung argues that the passage is a unity and condemns the eating of idol on two counts. First, it is unloving because it does damage to others. Second, it is idolatry because it is associated with demons. In ch. 4, Cheung surveys early Christian understanding of Paul's attitude and of the whole issue of eating offered to idols. He shows that 1 Corinthians was widely known and used in the early church, and that the early church universally opposed eating offered to idols. No one understood Paul's argument as condoning offered to idols. Cheung concludes that it is highly unlikely that what Paul taught on this important subject could have been forgotten or misunderstood by every early Christian author represented in our extant sources (p. 174). In ch. 5, Cheung offers a summary and concluding reflections. An appendix surveys the views of P. J. Tomson, Gooch, W. L. Willis, G. Theissen, M. M. Mitchell, and B. Witherington on various aspects of 1 Cor 8:1-11:1. Even if one were to grant Cheung his thesis, his argument contains a major flaw of omission. Cheung tries to show that Paul and all other authors in early Christianity are remarkably consistent (p. …