Shaping Church Culture: Table Fellowship and Teaching in Luke-Acts

Abstract

This thesis examines Luke-Acts to explore if, how, and in what ways Jesus and early church leaders intentionally shaped the culture of their followers. In Luke, table fellowship was the primary means Jesus used to shape the culture of his followers, as demonstrated through the prominence of eleven meal scenes. In Acts, teaching was the primary means early church leaders used to shape the organizational culture of the early church, as demonstrated through five paraenetic sermons addressed to the church. Table fellowship and teaching affected the behavior, values, and underlying beliefs of the early church related to Jew/Gentile relations (Acts 11; Acts 15), who should be considered as insiders/outsiders (Luke 5:29-39; Luke 7:36-50, Luke 19:1-10), hypocrisy (Luke 11:37-54), Sabbath regulations (Luke 6:1-5), status and humility (Luke 14:1-24; Luke 22:14-34), Jesus' identity (Luke 9:10-17; Luke 24:13-43); the disciples' obedience (Luke 9:10-17; Luke 10:38-42), and leadership (Acts 1:15-26; Acts 20:17-38).