Sunday, February 08, 2009

Your collective wisdom

A question: what do you consider are the best books/articles on the subject of New Testament ecclesiology? I would love to hear your thoughts. I will be exploring this subject in more depth in the coming weeks.

I note here the relatively new Hendrickson monograph, Stewards, Prophets, Keepers of the Word: Leadership in the Early Church, by Ritva H. Williams.

"Steward, prophet, keeper of the word—these three roles reflect the hierarchical social structures, religious experience, and faithfulness to tradition found in ancient Mediterranean cultures, and, as Ritva Williams argues, influenced the development of early Christianity. The linear progression of leadership (apostles to bishops or apostles to presbyters or charismatics to office holders, etc.) commonly held to have emerged in the early church does not appear in early Christian texts from the mid-first to early second centuries. Instead, what these texts reveal is a variety, diversity, and plurality of ways that Christ-followers adopted and adapted these dynamic roles from antiquity as they struggled to organize and live in their local situations"

Here is the table of contents, a sample chapter and the entire introduction.

7 Comments:

At 2/09/2009 9:06 AM, Anonymous Sean said...

Hey Chris, this is an exciting area of study that has kept me busy over the past few weeks.

Must read's include:
* House Church and Mission by Gehring
* Paul's Idea of Community by Banks
* From Synagogue to Church by Burtchaell
* Serve the Community of the Church by Clarke
* The First Urban Christians by Meeks
* Johnson's chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Paul
* At the Origins of Christian Worship by Hurtado

There are loads more, but these I've found helpful.

 
At 2/09/2009 10:21 AM, Anonymous Nijay K. Gupta said...

Chris,
I would also have said Banks' book; consider also Paul Minear's IMAGES OF THE CHURCH IN THE NT; Also, a collection of essays entitled A VISION FOR THE CHURCH (eds. M. Bockmuehl and M. Thompson), which includes essays by W. Horbury, M. Hooker, Bockmuehl, Bauckham, Beale, C. Rowland, and JMG Barclay.

Also, R. McKelvey, THE NEW TEMPLE: THE CHURCH IN THE NT (1969).

 
At 2/10/2009 1:02 AM, Anonymous Mark Stevens said...

As a series of good article about what the NT church was not, Ben Witherington had a series of posts in response to the god awful book Pagan Christianity. http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2008/06/pagan-christianty-by-george-barna-and.html

Also, I haven't read it, but his book New Testament Story, might also be worth a look.

 
At 2/11/2009 1:41 AM, Anonymous Chris Tilling said...

Huge thanks, guys, very helpful.

 
At 2/12/2009 1:40 AM, Anonymous Bill said...

I have heard recomended several times a book by Howard Snyder called The Problem with Wineskins.

That quote sounds got better and better as it went on. I wonder if Cardinal Spin is going to like this one?

Looking forward to more of your thoughts on the book(s)...

 
At 2/12/2009 4:52 PM, Anonymous becarefulhowyouhear said...

on the popular level...

biblical foundations for baptist churches, hammett

9 marks of a healthy church, deliberate church, dever

 
At 2/14/2009 2:38 AM, Anonymous Chris Tilling said...

Hi Andy,
HUGELY helpful, many thanks!

 

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