The Church according to Paul: Rediscovering the Community Conformed to Christ

Amid conflicting ideas about what the church should be and do in a post-Christian climate, the missing voice is that of Paul. The New Testament's most prolific church planter, Paul faced diverse challenges as he worked to form congregations. Leading biblical scholar James Thompson examines Paul's ministry of planting and nurturing churches in the pre-Christian world to offer guidance for the contemporary church. The church today, as then, must define itself and its mission among people who have been shaped by other experiences of community. Thompson shows that Paul offers an unprecedented vision of the community that is being conformed to the image of Christ. He also addresses contemporary (mis)understandings of words like missional, megachurch, and formation.

• Contents
• Introduction: Reimagining the Church
• 1. A Community Like No Other: The Key Themes--from Paul's First Letter
• 2. Not Just Any Body: The Church and Paul's Corporate Christology
• 3. The Church Made Visible: Baptism and the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans
• 4. Spiritual Formation Is Corporate Formation: The Transformative Church in Romans and 2 Corinthians
• 5. Justification Is about Unification: The Death of Jesus and the People of God in Romans and Galatians
• 6. "Missional" May Not Mean What You Think: Evangelism and Social Action according to Paul
• 7. The Universal Church Is the Local Church: Koinōnia according to Paul
• 8. Discovering the Real Megachurch: Cosmic Church and House Church in the Disputed Letters
• 9. Leadership Like No Other for a Community Like No Other: Authority and Ministry in the Undisputed Letters
• Conclusion: The Church after Christendom
• Indexes