Böcker av David W T Brattston

The Rise of Bishops reveals how Christian congregations, which were self-governing in the second and third centuries, became subject to the general supervision and direction of diocesan bishops and higher officeholders, thus ending their independence from outside the local parish. The New Testament says nothing about church government after the apostles. Thus, the question becomes ""who replaced the apostles?"" Local church congregations in the period between AD 100 to 300 appear to have been administered by bishops and deacons, and sometimes elders, all as congregational officeholders, with no superstructure above the congregation. Yet, the fourth century sees congregations governed in groups by a collective hierarchy, based on diocesan bishops. This book attributes most of the change to Constantine the Great and his immediate successors, motivated by desire for more efficient functioning and greater control by the emperors once the majority church was co-opted into the Roman state.Although bishops have long been key officials in the church, surprisingly little has been written in our time on how the framework for choosing and regulating them developed in early times. What little is available consists of journal articles rather than standalone publications. The Rise of Bishops helps close this gap.

Volume One of Traditional Christian Ethics describes the terminology, discusses popular approaches to ethical decision-making today, illustrates that the earliest Christians conducted themselves in accordance with a large number of specific moral rules, states the method of this set of books for reconstructing the content of early Christian ethics/law as attested before the devastating epidemic and mass apostasy of AD 249-251, gives reasons for regarding this as the terminal date, and provides a guide to using the lists. At a number of points, this volume deals with objections to its theses. Volume One also furnishes you with complete information as to where you can find and look up the ancient sources cited in translation. Traditional Christian Ethics will help you solve problems in moral decision-making when Scripture is unclear or silent. You can solve them through its comprehensive itemized concordances of citations to precepts of Christian ethics from all translated ancient texts. Its sources possess unassailable authority that cannot be fabricated, and are persuasive among most Christian denominations. Preachers and professional scholars will find them invaluable as a starting point in preparing their own sermons, books, articles, and essays on specific points of ethics.