The Social Setting of the Ministry as Reflected in the Writings of Hermas, Clement and Ignatius
The Social Setting of the Ministry as Reflected in the Writings of Hermas, Clement and Ignatius

Author: Harry O. Maier

Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press

Published: 2006-01-01

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 0889207178

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Focussing on three first- and early-second-century documents (the Shepherd of Hermas, 1 Clement and the Ignatian epistles), this work contributes to a growing body of literature concerned with the social setting of early Christianity. Maier argues that the development of structures of leadership in the early Christian church is best accounted for by reference to the hospitality, patronage, and leadership of wealthy hosts who invited local Christian groups to meet in their homes. Sociological models and types are employed to analyze the tensions that arose from excesses of patronage and leadership by the well-to-do. Recognizing the socio-economic setting of these conflicts corrects the interpretation of early Christian conflicts over the ministry as purely theological and doctrinali.

Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion
Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion

Author: Margaret Y. MacDonald

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1996-10-03

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 9780521567282

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This is a study of how women figured in public reaction to the church from New Testament times to Christianity's encounter with the pagan critics of the second century CE. The reference to a hysterical woman was made by the most prolific critic of Christianity, Celsus. He was referring to a follower of Jesus - probably Mary Magdalene - who was at the centre of efforts to create and promote belief in the resurrection. MacDonald draws attention to the conviction, emerging from the works of several pagan authors, that female initiative was central to Christianity's development; she sets out to explore the relationship between this and the common Greco-Roman belief that women were inclined towards excesses in religion. The findings of cultural anthropologists of Mediterranean societies are examined in an effort to probe the societal values that shaped public opinion and early church teaching. Concerns expressed in New Testament and early Christian texts about the respectability of women, and even generally about their behaviour, are seen in a new light when one appreciates that outsiders focused on early church women and understood their activities as a reflection of the group as a whole.

Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments
Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments

Author: Ralph P. Martin

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2010-05-11

Total Pages: 1833

ISBN-13: 0830867368

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This one-of-a-kind reference volume provides focused study on the often-neglected portions of the New Testament: Acts, Hebrews, the General Epistles, and Revelation. Expert contributors present more information than any other single work—dealing exclusively with the theology, literature, background, and scholarship of the later New Testament and the apostolic church.

Concord and Peace
Concord and Peace

Author: Odd Magne Bakke

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 9783161476372

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Odd Magne Bakke presents the first in-depth study of 1 Clement from the standpoint of the letter's rhetoric. He bases his methodological analysis on tools from the Graeco-Roman rhetorical tradition, using both the handbooks as well as actual speeches and letters. These are supplemented by tools from modern text linguistics, which the author uses to do a compositional analysis of the letter, and by the tools of modern semantics, used to establish the language of concord in 1 Clement which it has in common with other relevant ancient literature. The author's approach constitutes a fresh reading of 1 Clement and provides new suggestions on several important issues in the immense research on the letter. He demonstrates both the thematic and argumentative unity of the letter. Its macro-structure reflects the conventional parts of the dispositio of ancient rhetoric ( exordium, narratio, probatio, peroratio ). Also, the sub-texts on different levels of these parts are shown to be integrated into and to serve Clement's overall argument for re-establishing concord and peace in the Corinthian church. Odd Magne Bakke questions the traditional views that the conflict in this church was between 'spirit' and 'office' or was a matter of 'doctrine'. He argues that Clement primarily regarded it as a conflict between people of different socio-economic statuses in which a struggle for honor appeared to be an important aspect.

Women in Pastoral Office
Women in Pastoral Office

Author: Mary M. Schaefer

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-10-08

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 0199977631

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Through a study of the church of Santa Prassede, Mary M. Schaefer offers a compelling examination of the ''golden ages'' for women active in ecclesial ministries, critically measuring feminist claims and providing evidence contrary to the official Roman position that women have never been ordained in the Catholic Church. The ninth-century church of Santa Prassede has been studied intensively in recent years, yet no scholar has yet recognized the significance of the balanced male and female imagery: both men and women disciples, Peter and Paul as family friends, Praxedes and her sister as house church leaders in the post-apostolic period assisted by bishop Pius I, and Pope Paschal's mother Theodora episcopa, for example. Praxedes' identification as ''presbytera'' by a Roman priest-historian in 1655 and by the Benedictine prior of the church in 1725 prompts analysis of women's ordination rites in churches of East and West. Santa Prassede preserves one of the largest intact programs of church decoration in Rome up to 1200. Schaefer investigates its scriptural and liturgical sources, and, in turn, reexamines its foundation myth. With the story of the church, Schaefer provides a detailed study of women in pastoral office (especially diaconas, presbyteras, and episcopal abbesses) from the first through twelfth centuries in the West. Women in Pastoral Office also shows how the liturgy as well as the vita of Praxedes and her sister Pudentiana (whose fourth century church is located down the hill) shaped this outstanding commission of the builder, Pope Paschal I (817-824).

Martyred for the Church
Martyred for the Church

Author: Justin Buol

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2018-09-21

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 3161563891

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In this study, Justin Buol analyzes the writings connected with the deaths of Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, and Pothinus of Lyons in light of earlier accounts of the noble deaths of military, political, and religious leaders from Greco-Roman literature and the Bible, which record benefits accruing to a group on account of its leader's death. The author argues that the accounts of these three bishops' martyrdoms draw upon those prior models in order to portray the bishops as dying to unite, protect, and strengthen the Church, oppose false teaching and apostasy, and solidify the teaching role of the episcopal office. Finally, by providing a foundation for Irenaeus to argue for apostolic succession, these second-century bishop martyrs also help form a lasting contribution to the growth of episcopal power.

Pauline Conversations in Context
Pauline Conversations in Context

Author: Janice Capel Anderson

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2002-09-01

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 0567262979

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The "conversations" in this collection open by challenging ideas that have become standard and subject them to critical re-examination. The central thread of all these essays is a reflection on the processes of reading and theologizing. Among the contributors to this volume are David E. Aune, Jouette Bassler, Daniel Boyarin, Neil Elliott, Victor Paul Furnish, Lloyd Gaston, Steven J. Kraftchick, Robert C. Morgan, J. Andrew Overman, Mark Reasoner, Peter Richardson, and Robin Scroggs. Juanita Garciagodoy and David H. Hopper offer appreciations of Calvin Roetzel as a teacher and colleague.

Church, Book, And Bishop
Church, Book, And Bishop

Author: Peter Iver Kaufman

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-10-08

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 0429981287

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This book narrates a number of stories from the early clerical history of the church to illustrate how authority came to be shared among the institutions of church, book, and bishop. It is intended for a wide range of readers, including scholars, students.

Origins and Method--Towards a New Understanding of Judaism and Christianity
Origins and Method--Towards a New Understanding of Judaism and Christianity

Author: Bradley H. McLean

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 1993-09-01

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 0567495574

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This collection of essays is presented in honour of John C. Hurd on the occasion of his retirement as Professor of New Testament at Trinity College, Toronto, and in recognition of a distinguished career in the fields of Pauline studies and computing in the humanities. Given Professor Hurd's interest in Christian origins and methodology, it is appropriate that the contributors to this volume deal with the origin and development of various aspects of Judaism and Christianity. In particular they highlight how a greater attentiveness to method has resulted in a reshaping of our understanding of Christianity or Judaism. The volume is divided into three parts: 'New Understandings of Paul', 'New Understandings of the New Testament', and 'New Understandings of the Relationship between Judaism and Christianity'. Contributors include Walter Aufrecht, Karl Donfried, Robert Grant, John Kloppenborg, Gerd Ludemann and Wayne McCready.

The Apostolic Fathers in English
The Apostolic Fathers in English

Author: Michael W. Holmes

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 2006-11-01

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1585585009

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The Apostolic Fathers is an important collection of writings revered by early Christians but not included in the final canon of the New Testament. Here a leading expert on these texts offers an authoritative contemporary translation, in the tradition of the magisterial Lightfoot version but thoroughly up-to-date. The third edition features numerous changes, including carefully revised translations and a new, more user-friendly design. The introduction, notes, and bibliographies have been freshly revised as well.