The latest issue of Southeastern Theological Review just released (9.1), and it includes an article I wrote on 1 Corinthians 8–10:
“Was It Always Idolatrous for Corinthian Christians to Eat Εἰδωλόθυτα in an Idol’s Temple? (1 Cor 8–10).” Southeastern Theological Review 9 (2018): 23–45.
Here’s the abstract:
Does Paul teach in 1 Cor 8–10 that it was always idolatrous for Corinthian Christians to eat εἰδωλόθυτα [eidōlothuta] in an idol’s temple?
Gordon Fee and other exegetes present three interrelated arguments that the answer is yes:
(1) eating εἰδωλόθυτα in an idol’s temple was an inherently religious event;
(2) εἰδωλόθυτος means meat sacrificed to idols that one eats in an idol’s temple; and
(3) 1 Cor 8 parallels 10:14–22.
But the more plausible answer is no:
(1) eating εἰδωλόθυτα in an idol’s temple could be a non-idolatrous social event—like eating in a restaurant;
(2) εἰδωλόθυτος means meat sacrificed to idols—whether one eats it in an idol’s temple or at home; and
(3) 1 Cor 8 differs significantly from 10:14–22.
What motivated me to study this issue in the first place was not primarily the historical-cultural context but the literary context. I cannot harmonize 1 Cor 8:9–10 with 10:14–22 unless what Paul describes in 8:9–10 is actually a disputable matter and not always idolatry.
