Priests of My People: Levitical Paradigms for Early Christian Ministers (Patristic Studies)

Description

This book offers an innovative examination of the question: why did early Christians begin calling their ministerial leaders «priests» (using the terms hiereus/sacerdos)? Scholarly consensus has typically suggested that a Christian «priesthood» emerged either from an imitation of pagan priesthood or in connection with seeing the Eucharist as a sacrifice over which a «priest» must preside. This work challenges these claims by exploring texts of the third and fourth century where Christian bishops and ministers are first designated «priests»: Tertullian and Cyprian of Carthage, Origen of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea, and the church orders Apostolic Tradition and Didascalia Apostolorum. Such an examination demonstrates that the rise of a Christian ministerial priesthood grew more broadly out of a developing «religio-political ecclesiology». As early Christians began to understand themselves culturally as a unique polis in their own right in the Greco-Roman world, they also saw themselves theologically and historically connected with ancient biblical Israel. This religio-political ecclesiology, sharpened by an emerging Christian material culture and a growing sense of Christian «sacred space», influenced the way Christians interpreted the Jewish Scriptures typologically. In seeing the nation of Israel as a divine nation corresponding to themselves, Christians began appropriating the Levitical priesthood as a figure or «type» of the Christian ministerial office. Such a study helpfully broadens our understanding of the emergence of a Christian priesthood beyond pagan imitation or narrow focus on the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist, and instead offers a more comprehensive explanation in connection with early Christian ecclesiology. Cover Table of Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Reference and Critical Works Early Church Orders Works of Tertullian Works of Origen of Alexandria Works of Cyprian Works of Eusebius of Caesaria Chapter 1. Introduction State of the Question Christian Priesthood Emulates Pagan Priesthood Christian Priesthood Represents Christ’s High Priesthood Christian Priests as Presiders over the Eucharistic Sacrifice Religio-Political Ecclesiology: A Way Forward Church as a Culture or Polis Religio-Political Continuity with Israel A Christian Material Culture and Sacred Space The Present Study Chapter 2. Guardians of Sacred Space: Tertullian of Carthage A Christian Ministerial Priesthood Religio-Political Ecclesiology and a Typology of Levitical Priesthood Emerging Christian Material Culture and Sacred Space Conclusion Chapter 3. Attendants of the Lord: The Apostolic Tradition A Ministerial Priesthood in the Ordination Prayers Religio-Political Ecclesiology: Continuity with Israel Christian Material Culture and Sacred Space Literary Evidence Textual Evidence Outside the AT Archaeological Evidence Conclusion Chapter 4. Stewards of God’s House: The Didascalia Apostolorum Background to the Didascalia Apostolorum Dating and Provenance Textual Issues Genre Priestly Depictions of the Christian Bishop Eucharistic Sacrifice? Religio-Political Ecclesiology Continuity with Israel Jewish-Christian Relations: A Political Ecclesiology A Christian Material Culture Conclusion Chapter 5. Rulers of the Divine Nation: Origen of Alexandria A Christian Priesthood Functions of the Minister-Priest Teaching Sacrifice The Word as a Sacrifice Spiritual Leadership Religio-Political
Ecclesiology Church as Polis Old Testament as the Book of the Church Continuity with Israel and Its History A Typology of Priesthood Christian Material Culture Conclusion Chapter 6. Ministers of the Altar, Leaders of the Church: Cyprian of Carthage A Christian Ministerial Priesthood Christian Priests: Liturgical Leaders of the Church Christian Priests: Administrative Rulers of the Church Religio-Political Ecclesiology: Continuity with Israel A Christian Material Culture and Sacred Space Archaeological Evidence Literary Evidence Conclusion Chapter 7. Priests of God’s Holy Temple: Eusebius of Caesarea Priesthood and History: Dedication of the Church at Tyre An Ecclesiological Continuity with Israel Christian Material Culture and Sacred Space Conclusion Chapter 8. Bridging the Gap: Early Trajectories of Priestly Ideas Priestly Ideas in the Early Church The Apostle Paul Didache 1 Clement An Ecclesiology of Continuity with Israel A Cultural or Political Ecclesiology Religio-Political Ecclesiology and a Ministerial Priesthood Summary of the Present Study Bibliography Primary Sources Apostolic Tradition Clement of Rome Cyprian Didache Didascalia Apostolorum Eusebius of Caesarea Origen Tertullian Miscellaneous Secondary Sources Index Index of Biblical Citations