Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: Women and Early Christian Meals and Associations
Voluntary Associations: Cultic and Community Contexts
Funerary Meals as the Context for Women's Participation in the Process of Christian Origins
Chapter 2: Women's Funerary Rituals, Meals, and Lament in Antiquity
Women, Death, and Burial in Ancient Greece
Women, Death, and Burial in Ancient Rome
Women's Ritual Lamentation of Greco-Roman Gods and Heroes
Stereotypes of Women's Rituals: Noble Death Scenes
Hellenized Death Scenes in Jewish Literature
Stereotypes of Women's Rituals: Tomb Visitation and Magic
Women nad Funerary Rituals in Judaism and Palestine
Women, the Cult of the Dead, and Early Christianity
Chapter 3: Celebratory Meals of the Kingdom of God and Meals of Jesus' Presence
From Jesus to Q, the Didache, and the Eucharist
Open Commensality and the Parable of the Feast: Celebratory Meals in the Movement of the Historical Jesus
Meals with "Tax Collectors and Sinners" (Q 7:33-34)
The Children of the Marketplace (Q 7:31-32)
"Let the Dead Bury Their Own Dead" and the Fatherhood of God
Meals of Jesus' Presence: From the Didache to the Eucharist
Chapter 4: The Eucharist and Meals for the Dead
Jesus, Women, and Meals: Social Conflict at Table and Funerary Rituals
Feedings of Thousands: Eucharists and Funerary Meals
Dogs on the Floor with the Syro-Phoenician Woman (Mark 7:24-30; Matt 15:21-28)
The Woman, Anointing, Burial, and a Meal: the End of Mourning?
Chapter 5: The Passion Story as a Lament Story for the Dead
Women Witnesses at the Cross and the Tomb
Jesus' Death as a Heroic and Noble Death
He Was Buried, He Was Raised on the Third Day
Women at the Crucifixion
Oral Lamentation and the Passion Narrative
Resurrection Traditions and Continuing Conflict
Could Women's Lamentation and Grief Lead to "Resurrection Faith"?
Jesus, History, and Lament

Includes bibliographical references and index.