From Symposium to Eucharist: The Banquet in the Early Christian World, by Dennis E. Smith. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003. Pp. xi + 411. $25.00 (paper). By its sustained focus on a highly prominent feature of the cultural setting of the NT and early Christianity, this very informative study makes a substantial scholarly contribution. The book builds on a foundation of work that began with Smith's Ph.D. dissertation and has been continued in several essays published subsequently. Here, however, we have the benefits of further research and reflections.
