tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post3333238576836361183..comments2024-03-28T09:52:15.415-04:00Comments on Common Denominator: "Thick Description": EldersKen Schenckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09745548537303356655noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-75036666995628961552011-11-22T19:18:01.209-05:002011-11-22T19:18:01.209-05:00My point, Ken, about Acts 15 is that one sees the ...My point, Ken, about Acts 15 is that one sees the beginning of popular participation in the affairs of the Church. It is not just the hierarchy, as became the case much later in the West. <br /><br />I am reminded of Gregory of Nazianzen's comments about all the popular theologizing going on in Constantinople in the late Fourth Century and of the role the "Christian street" played in the fortunes of the Church of Alexandria, from dock workers striking in support of Athanasius to the popular insistence that Chalcedon, indeed, was to rejected as were hierarchs who subscribed to it and being perfectly willing and able to take the kind of action necessary to enforce that position.FrGregACCAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00368463715994694203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-87555441933261813102011-11-22T08:36:50.119-05:002011-11-22T08:36:50.119-05:00I take overseer in 1 Timothy to be synonymous with...I take overseer in 1 Timothy to be synonymous with elder (in the light of Titus 1) and to refer to a collection of older leaders at least in a city as a whole, which often was basically a single house church. I think bishop would be a very misleading translation.<br /><br />I don't think Timothy actually qualifies in 1 Timothy. He interestingly seems to play some role that is above the elders and overseers of Ephesus and yet is likely significantly younger than them.<br /><br />As for Acts 15, I think it's important to remember that it is a perspective on the event rather than a videotape. I feel quite confident that Paul would tell the story differently... in fact I think he does in Galatians 2 ;-)Ken Schenckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09745548537303356655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-1366935837636786112011-11-22T03:30:10.203-05:002011-11-22T03:30:10.203-05:00Some interesting assumptions at work here.
First,...Some interesting assumptions at work here.<br /><br />First, does a church board function in the same way as a group of presbyters did in the First Century Church? These presbyters, after all, are "priests" and function as such more and more as time goes on and the "high priest", the bishop, becomes more and more a supra-parochial figure.<br /><br />Does "presbyter" necessarily imply a certain level of chronological age? St. Paul writes that no one should despise Timothy because of his youth. Doesn't "presbyter" convey something along the lines of the way we use the word "senior" as in "Senior Management"?<br /><br />Regardless of the level of autocracy found in the ancient world, the early Church seems to be taking a step beyond that. See Acts 15, for example. Consensus is reached.<br /><br />IOW, I agree with your conclusion, but not necessarily with every step you took to get there.FrGregACCAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00368463715994694203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-14383562161618463592011-11-22T02:53:20.203-05:002011-11-22T02:53:20.203-05:00Back then, not many people could read or write. Th...Back then, not many people could read or write. There must have been a few in the churches, in order to read, say, Paul's letters. But we don't know how many more churches there may have been where this was not possible. Old people were the memory of the community; that's why people who were with Jesus, or were witnesses to the resurrection, were so important. Things couldn't be more different now!Robert Brenchleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17006227551531676492noreply@blogger.com