“Come dine with me”: a social-scientific interpretation of the Meal motif in rev 3:20

Onelum, John (2025). “Come dine with me”: a social-scientific interpretation of the Meal motif in rev 3:20. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Conceptions of the Eucharist in contemporary Western Pentecostal discourse appear domesticated since, compared to their forebears, the rite is typically not central to the worship and identity of many Western Pentecostal churches. My thesis explains how a eucharistic reading of the meal motif in Rev 3:20 is instrumental to understanding the nature of this domestication and its implications concerning Pentecostal engagement in the cultural domain. I argue that the meal motif symbolises the Eucharist in the message to the Laodicean church in the Apocalypse. Moreover, I argue that understanding the meal as the Eucharist and as central to addressing the problematic aspects of the Laodicean church’s culture can be instructive to Pentecostal eucharistic theology and cultural engagement. I interpret the meal motif in Rev 3:20 using a social-scientific hermeneutic method. This method comprises three investigative lenses: historical (historical analysis of the passage), theoretical (using René Girard’s mimetic theory and Wendy Griswold’s ‘Cultural Diamond’), and phenomenological (reflecting my UK Pentecostal perspective). Finally, I conclude the thesis with a literary contextual analysis and interpretation of the Rev 3:20 passage based on a combined reading of aspects of my Girardian conception of the Eucharist and the Pentecostal full gospel theological framework.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):