|
28-05-2008
House Church and Mission: The Importance of Household Structures in Early Christianity
by Roger W. Gehring
Peabody: Hendrickson, 2004
432 pp, Cloth
ISBN: 1565638123
About this Book For nearly three hundred years, early Christians met almost exclusively in private homes initially built only for domestic use. In this study, the author investigates the missional significance of house churches from the time of Jesus through Paul in light of both theological and sociohistorical considerations. All church structures take shape in the tension between preestablished theological requirements and the concrete social situation. Even in the New Testament, the emergence of separate house churches involved the potential danger of splintering the Christian movement. Nevertheless their essential family-based foundation has proven to be the life-generating cell and fundamental core of the missional church. The development of early Christian ethics, the emergence of leadership structures, and the growth of ecclesiological concepts were all noticeably influenced by the households in which believers lived and gathered. In the last twenty-five years the house church phenomenon has generated a great deal of interest among New Testament scholars and church practitioners. Research has focused primarily on the architecture of these homes and on its corresponding social and theological implications. This work offers scholars the first comprehensive summary of evidence concerning home churches in the New Testament and supplies pastors and lay leaders with a well-crafted discussion of the nature of ‘church' that explores the practical implications of house churches on outreach. This book is a translation and revision of his doctoral dissertation, written under Peter Stuhlmacher at the University of Tübingen.
About the Author Roger W. Gehring is Adjunct Professor at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Oregon.
Table of Contents Preface to the English Edition xi
Abbreviations xiii
Chapter One Introduction 1
Chapter Two the Use of Houses before Easter 28
Chapter Three the Post-Easter Use of Houses in the Primitive Jerusalem Church 62
Chapter Four the Use of Houses in Pauline Missional Outreach 119
Chapter Five the Continuing Influence of Oikos Structures 229
Chapter Six the Ecclesiological and Missional Function and Significance of House Churches 288
Appendix Floor Plans and Reconstructions 313
Bibliography 321
Indexes Modern Authors 383
Subjects 387
Ancient Sources 397
http://www.hendrickson.com/html/product/38123.acad.html?category=academic#curr |
