MANUALS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN HISTORY
Edited by J. ESTLIN CARPENTER. <...> M.A., D.Litt., D.D.
THE EARLY CHURCH
ITS ORDERS AND INSTITUTIONS
BY
A. HERMANN THOMAS, M.A.
(OF ST. CATHARINE'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE)
LONDON
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
ESSEX HALL, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C.
1907
CONTENTS
PREFATORY NOTE
2
PREFACE
3
CHAPTER I THE CHURCH IN THE FIRST CENTURY
4
CHAPTER II THE PROPHETIC MINISTRY
31
CHAPTER III THE DOGMATIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE
CHAPTER IV THE EPISCOPATE
51
CHAPTER V THE PRESBYTERS, DEACONS, AND MINOR
ORDERS
107
CHAPTER VI BAPTISM
126
CHAPTER VII THE LORD'S SUPPER
150
CHAPTER VIII ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCHES
178
APPENDIX CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
185
1
PREFATORY NOTE
THIS little volume is a sequel to the manual entitled
Christianity and the Roman Empire, by the Rev. W. Addis,
M.A. (1893). <...> Assuming the relations to the State described in
that book, it endeavours to delineate in simple terms the
complicated phases of the internal growth and organization of
the Church. <...> The different types of ecclesiastical fellowship and
government exhibited at the present day in Churches founded
on the Congregational, Presbyterian, and Catholic conceptions,
all have their roots in the first two centuries of Christian history
after the ‘Prophet of Nazareth’ had proclaimed the coming of
the Kingdom and had passed away. <...> The great change which the
disciples had expected in their own lifetime, receded more and
more into the distance, and at length the Church had to
accommodate itself to the permanent conditions of the society
in the midst of which it had been planted. <...> To sketch the process by which the Christian
Church gradually acquired a particular kind of government, and
embodied its faith and hope in special rites, which ultimately
secured its predominance over all rivals, is the object of this
book. <...> But to those who desire some acquaintance with the origin of
the claims and practices of historic Christianity, it is
commended as a useful guide. <...>
PREFACE
IN the following pages I have made large use <...>
The_early_church.pdf
MANUALS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN HISTORY
Edited by J. ESTLIN CARPENTER. M.A., D.Litt., D.D.
THE EARLY CHURCH
ITS ORDERS AND INSTITUTIONS
BY
A. HERMANN THOMAS, M.A.
(OF ST. CATHARINE'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE)
LONDON
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
ESSEX HALL, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C.
1907
Стр.1
CONTENTS
PREFATORY NOTE
PREFACE
CHAPTER I THE CHURCH IN THE FIRST CENTURY
CHAPTER II THE PROPHETIC MINISTRY
CHAPTER III THE DOGMATIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE
CHAPTER IV THE EPISCOPATE
CHAPTER V THE PRESBYTERS, DEACONS, AND MINOR
ORDERS
CHAPTER VI BAPTISM
CHAPTER VII THE LORD'S SUPPER
CHAPTER VIII ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCHES
APPENDIX CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
2
3
4
31
51
107
126
150
178
185
1
Стр.2
PREFATORY NOTE
THIS little volume is a sequel to the manual entitled
Christianity and the Roman Empire, by the Rev. W. Addis,
M.A. (1893). Assuming the relations to the State described in
that book, it endeavours to delineate in simple terms the
complicated phases of the internal growth and organization of
the Church.
The different types of ecclesiastical fellowship and
government exhibited at the present day in Churches founded
on the Congregational, Presbyterian, and Catholic conceptions,
all have their roots in the first two centuries of Christian history
after the ‘Prophet of Nazareth’ had proclaimed the coming of
the Kingdom and had passed away. The great change which the
disciples had expected in their own lifetime, receded more and
more
into the distance, and at length the Church had to
accommodate itself to the permanent conditions of the society
in the midst of which it had been planted. In doing so it was
natural that it should be deeply influenced by the beliefs, the
usages, the ritual
forms surrounding it. The Empire had
established peace over a vast area from East to West. Free
communication made the labours of missionaries of various
faiths easier than at any previous period. The limitations of
traditional cults began to break down under the wider teachings
of philosophy; and the new ideas embodied in the Oriental
religions which sought to obtain a footing in Rome, provided a
kind of ferment out of which fresh varieties of thought and life
might grow. To sketch the process by which the Christian
Church gradually acquired a particular kind of government, and
embodied its faith and hope in special rites, which ultimately
secured its predominance over all rivals, is the object of this
book. Within its narrow limits much is inevitably left unsaid.
But to those who desire some acquaintance with the origin of
the claims and practices of historic Christianity, it is
commended as a useful guide.
J. ESTLIN CARPENTER.
OXFORD, August, 1907.
Стр.3
PREFACE
IN the following pages I have made large use of Dr. J.
Estlin Carpenter's articles in The Christian Reformer, Vols. III.
and IV., and of Prof. Lindsay's book. The Church and Ministry
in the Early Centuries, especially
in
the chapters on the
Prophetic Ministry and the Episcopate. Among other works
which I have found helpful, and which students are advised to
read, are: Réville's Episcopate, Harnack's What is Christianity?
Expansion of Christianity, History of Dogma, Wernle's
Beginnings of Christianity, Hatch's Hibbert Lectures. Anrich's
The Influence of the Mysteries on Christianity, Cumont's The
Mysteries of Mithras, and Baur's Church History. The English
books are easily accessible, and several of the foreign works are
translated.
I am indebted to Dr. J. E. Carpenter for valuable advice
in the selection of materials, and to Mr. Philip Green for help in
correcting the proofs.
A. H. T.
LEICESTER, August, 1907.
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CHAPTER I
THE CHURCH IN THE FIRST CENTURY
I. JESUS AND THE CHURCH
(1) The Mission of Jesus. It is now generally agreed that the
Gospels which relate the life of Jesus, with the possible
exception of the Fourth, are not first-hand evidence; they are
compilations of earlier material, written or oral, made at a time
when Christianity had already passed beyond the confines of
Palestine; they give by no means a connected or similar
account. But in all of them Jesus is represented as teaching a
lesson rather than as founding a society. As early as his twelfth
year1 he seems to have come
to the conviction of the
Fatherhood of God, which was to form so large a part of his
preaching. At the same time, no doubt, he was becoming
familiar with the religious ideas and hopes of his countrymen.
For many years the Jewish nation, passing from under one
foreign yoke to another, had been expecting the dawn of a
brighter age, and the coming of a great Liberator. It was only
natural that Jesus should wish to be enrolled by the baptism of
John among those who were prepared for the coming crisis. But
in the course of this Baptism2 he is represented as having
received a revelation of his own Messiahship, while the
Temptation
in
the Wilderness suggests a mental conflict,
through which he found himself called, not to lead his nation in
a career of earthly domination, but into the blessedness of a
spiritual kingdom. Thus the mission of Jesus was to preach a
new conception of God, to introduce fresh principles of life,
and in so doing he felt the consciousness of a task entrusted to
1Luke ii. 42 sq.
22The account of the Baptism and Temptation are probably church pictures of
the endowment of Jesus with the Holy Spirit. But they may also contain some
memory of his spiritual experiences.
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