The Ancient Church as Family PDF Download

Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download The Ancient Church as Family PDF full book. Access full book title The Ancient Church as Family by Joseph H. Hellerman. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.

The Ancient Church as Family

The Ancient Church as Family PDF Author: Joseph H. Hellerman
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 9780800632489
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book Here

Book Description
The author explores the literature of the first three centuries of the church in terms of group identity and formation as surrogate kinship. Why did this become the organizing model in the earliest churches? How did historical developments intervene to shift the paradigm? How do ancient Mediterranean kinship structures correlate with church formation? Hellerman traces the fascinating story of these developments over three centuries and what brought them about. His focus is the New Testament documents (especially Paul's letters), second-century authors, and concluding with Cyprian in the third century. Kinship terminology in these writings, behaviors of group solidarity, and the symbolic power of kinship language in these groups are examined.