Community Formation: In the Early Church and in the Church Today

Twelve essays by a multidisciplinary panel of distinguished scholars present a coherent, panoramic picture of the formation of the Christian community. Richard Ascough, Alan Segal, and Peter Richardson explore Greco-Roman and Jewish organizational models. Craig Evans, Richard Longenecker, Scott Bartchy, and Howard Marshall present evidence of early community formation from the Gospels, the major Pauline letters, Acts, and the Pastoral Epistles. Alan Hayes and Frances Young explore post-New Testament Latin and Greek Christianity. John Webster, David Hester, and Miroslav Volf assess modern episcopal, presbyterian, and congregational polities in light of their biblical and theological roots. What has sometimes been called "church order" turns out to be rather the formation of a community, oriented to ministries in which all the people participate.

• Table of Contents:
  
  
• I. The Social Context
  • 1. Greco-Roman Philosophic, Religious, and Voluntary Associations / Richard S. Ascough
  • 2. The Jewish Experience: Temple, Synagogue, Home, and Fraternal Groups / Alan F. Segal
  • 3. Building "an Association (Synodos) ... and a Place of Their Own" / Peter Richardson
  
  
  
• II. The New Testament
  • 4. The Ministry of Jesus in the Gospels / Craig A. Evans
  • 5. Paul's Vision of the Church and Community Formation in His Major Missionary Letters / Richard N. Longenecker
  • 6. Divine Power, Community Formation, and Leadership in the Acts of the Apostles / S. Scott Bartchy
  • 7. Congregation and Ministry in the Pastoral Epistles / I. Howard Marshall
  
  
  
• III. The Early Centuries
  • 8. Christian Ministry in Three Cities of the Western Empire (160-258 C.E.) / Alan L. Hayes
  • 9. Ministerial Forms and Functions in the Church Communities of the Greek Fathers / Frances Young
  
  
  
• IV. The Church Today
• 10. The "Self-Organizing" Power of the Gospel: Episcopacy and Community Formation / John Webster
• 11. The Sanctified Life in the Body of Christ: A Presbyterian Form of Christian Community / David C. Hester
• 12. Community Formation as an Image of the Triune God: A Congregational Model of Church Order and Life / Miroslav Volf.