From Feasting to Fasting, the Evolution of a Sin. Attitudes to Food in Late Antiquity PDF
Preview From Feasting to Fasting, the Evolution of a Sin. Attitudes to Food in Late Antiquity
FROM FEASTING TO FASTING, THE EVOLUTION OF A SIN This page intentionally left blank. FROM FEASTING TO FASTING, THE EVOLUTION OF A SIN Attitudes to food in late antiquity Veronika E.Grimm London and New York First published 1996 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1996 Veronika E.Grimm All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Grimm, Veronika, 1934– From feasting to fasting, the evolution of a sin: attitudes to food in late antiquity/Veronika Grimm. p. cm. 1. Food in the Bible. 2. Bible. N.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. Food—Religious aspects— Christianity—History of doctrines—Early church, ca. 30–600. 4. Food habits—History. 5. Fasting— Biblical teaching. 6. Fasting—History. I. Title. BS680.F6G75 1996 241´.dc20 95–51393 CIP ISBN 0-203-43669-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-74493-4 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-13595-8 (Print Edition) CONTENTS A cknowledgements v ii L ist of abbreviations ix I NTRODUCTION 1 1 T HE JEWISH BACKGROUND 1 3 2 T HE GRAECO-ROMAN BACKGROUND 3 2 3 F OOD AND FASTING IN THE PAULINE EPISTLES 5 7 4 F OOD AND FASTING IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 7 0 5 C LEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 8 5 6 F OOD AND FASTING IN THE WORKS OF TERTULLIAN10 7 7 F OOD AND FASTING IN ORIGEN AND EUSEBIUS 13 2 8 J EROME AND ASCETIC PROPAGANDA 14 8 9 A UGUSTINE AND ASCETIC PRACTICE 16 9 C ONCLUSION 18 0 N otes 18 6 N ote on the sources 26 5 B ibliography 26 8 I ndex 28 1 This page intentionally left blank. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS From the time it dawned upon me that what I most wanted to do in life was to study the history of late antiquity and ancient attitudes to food, up to the completion of this project, more than ten years have passed. When I started on it I was Professor at the Hebrew University, teaching Psychology and doing research in Psychopharmacology in the Depart- ment of Biochemistry and Human Nutrition; the last five years I spent as a graduate student at Oxford University. In 1990 I embarked on this project with the understanding and generous encouragement of my Department in Israel, which even entailed on their part a granting of three years leave from my duties. The project took longer, resulting in my resignation from the Hebrew University, with great sadness on both sides. Next, I want to express my great indebtedness to an outstanding classi- cist and the most perfect teacher, who not only taught me Greek and Latin, but made me fall in love with the ancient languages, Professor David Weissert of Tel Aviv University. In Oxford, Wolfson College provided me with a warm and most stimulating intellectual home. If my competence in Greek and Latin improved at all it was because of those most challenging Friday after- noon reading sessions that Dr John Penney conducted heroically, even consenting to read Galen with me, with the anodyne of good red wine. I had the great good fortune of having not one but two supervisors for my thesis work, two excellent scholars who each in his own ways tried to keep me from falling too hard on my face. Martin Goodman made me go through, in record time, a large part of classical literature and tried to instill scholarly discipline in an often too enthusiastic old psychologist. Mark Edwards, with his impressive erudition and quiet, unassuming manner, taught me to read ancient Christian literature with viii FROM FEASTING TO FASTING, THE EVOLUTION OF A SIN more openness and understanding than my natural inclination would grant; he was always there to help. I want to thank Professor Norman F.Cantor of New York Univer- sity, who taught me about the development of law in the Middle Ages, and who, despite his disappointment with my choice of turning from medieval history to the Graeco-Roman period, stood by me with his friendship and even read some of the early versions of this work. One of Oxford’s great attractions for scholars is its magnificent libraries. I want to thank here all the wonderful librarians who helped me unstintingly: the Librarians of the Ashmolean, the Bodleian and the Theology Faculty Library; and, last but not least, Adrian Hale, the Librar- ian of Wolfson College. I also want to express my gratitude to the Harry and Abe Sherman Foundation for generously supporting my research for three years. To my beloved husband, John F.Matthews, for his unfailing encourage- ment, for his faith in my ability to finish this work, for keeping up my spirits when the going was rough, and for his superhuman efforts to teach me the English use of commas and semicolons, I express my love and deepest appreciation. Veronika Grimm ABBREVIATIONS AJA American Journal of Archeology AJP American Journal of Philology ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt BT Babylonian Talmud CCL Corpus Christianorum, series Latina ExpT Expository Times GCS Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der Ersten Jahrhunderte HR History of Religions HThR Harvard Theological Review JAC Jarbuch für Antike und Christentum JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JHL Journal of Hellenic Studies JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JRS Journal of Roman Studies JSS Journal of Semitic Studies JT Jerusalem Talmud JThS Journal of Theological Studies LCL Loeb Classical Library MEFRA Mélanges de l’École française de Rome: Antiquité NRSV New Revised Standard Version NS New series ThZ Theologische Zeitschrift VigChr Vigiliae Christianae Philo’s titles Abr. De Abrahamo Cher. De Cheribum Conf. De confusione linquarum Cont. De vita contemplativa
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