oa Missionalia : Southern African Journal of Mission Studies - Becoming all things to all people: Mission in a context of idolatry: Accommodation or fidelity?

Abstract

The author analyses Paul's arguments on the issue of idol food in I Cor 8-10. The growing multicultural and multireligious make�up of communities all over the world makes the question of Christians participating in rituals where idols are venerated a buming one. Paul's argument is complex, since he calls for complete avoidance of all overt contexts of idolatry, which the Corinthians consider unreasonable and too costly. By arguing about the different viewpoints of the strong and the weak, Garland concludes that Paul is not simply exonerating the eating of idol food by the strong but rather impresses on them how careful they must be in the light of their Christian fellowship with the weak.