The Christian Agape Meal : A manifestation of Koinonia and Diakonia. The contribution of Adalbert-Gautier Hamman

Abstract

This study investigates the first and second-century Christian agape meal as an expression of two central facets in the life and mission of the earliest Christian communities, koinonia and diakonia. This study evaluates the contribution of Adalbert- Gautier Hamman (1910–2000) on the agape meal. The academic prominence of this French patristic scholar is to be understood against the backdrop of the prevailing sociotheological context in France in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, namely la nouvelle théologie, the theology of earthly realities and other social initiatives by the Church in that period.