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[[File:Pentecost.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|The disciples receiving the Holy Spirit]]Once Jesus allegedly ascended into heaven (Acts 1) his apostles were tasked with the mission of building the church and spreading the Gospel (Matthew 28:19). By looking at Acts of the Apostles and several other extra-biblical texts, scholars have pieced together a picture of how the apostles went about this mission--how it was that they began the spread of the Christian movement and organized the earliest Christian communities. In what follows I will give a brief account of what the early church looked like: how it became distinct from Judaism, how Christian came together and worshiped, how they organized the governing or hierarchical structure of Christian communities.
===Introduction=The emergence of a new religion====[[File:PentecostMany scholars in Christian history debate about the exact time when Christianity became distinct from Judaism as a Jew himself, Jesus’ teaching and preaching could be understood as a reform movement within the Jewish tradition.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|The disciples receiving Jesus’ twelve apostles whom he instructed to begin the Church, “spreading the news to all nations, baptizing them in the Holy Spirit]]Once Jesus allegedly ascended into heaven (Acts 1) his apostles were tasked with name of the mission Father and of building the church Son, and spreading of the Gospel Holy Spirit,” were also Jews (Matthew Mt 28:19). By looking at Acts of And thus, the Apostles first and several other extra-biblical texts scholars have pieced together a picture biggest questions facing the followers of how Christ was what their relationship to the apostles went about this mission--how Mosaic Law was. What did it was that they began the spread mean to be a “follower of the Christian movement and organized the earliest Christian communities. In what follows I will give way” or a brief account member of the New Covenant in Christ? Did Gentiles need to become Jews before being admitted into this new community? The early Christians debated these questions in what the early church looked like: how it became distinct from Judaism, how Christian came together and worshiped, how they organized Book of Acts describes as the governing or hierarchical structure Council of Christian communitiesJerusalem (Acts 15).
The importance only recognizable piece of this conclusion cannot be understated: it furniture in the place of worship was a defining moment that distinguishes Christians from Jewstable (possibly an altar). CircumcisionHowever, and also adherence to scholars disagree about whether this functioned as the Levitical law, was determined to not be binding on Christians.<ref>The book location of Leviticus in the Tanak an agape meal (what Christians refer a communal feast to as heighten the ‘Old Testament’community’s sense of belonging are mutual affection) thoroughly outlines or where Christians celebrated the law Jews were instructed to live by according to GodEucharist, ευχαριστία in Greek, which means “thanksgiving. This law details everything from circumcision to how one must prepare food and interact with gentiles.</ref> ” Moreover, being admitted and recognized it is also possible that the Eucharist was honored as belong to God’s people was not done through circumcision and restricted to those part of the Jewish communityagape meal as well. Regardless, but this table or altar was a universal invitation to all people, thus why early christians called themselves catholic, meaning “universalthe focal point of the room.” This was now understood by Christians to occur through It wouldn’t be until the washing of regeneration, or baptismfourth century when basilicas are erected and specifically denoted as Christian worship spaces.
St. Justin Martyr’s First Apology (c.155 C.E.) was written as an apologia, meaning “defense,” of the Christian faith to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. In Chapter 67 it gives a play by play of what a typical Christian gathering would entail.<ref>Justin Martyr,<i>First Apology</i>, translated by Marcus Dods and George Reith. From <i>Ante-Nicene Fathers</i>, Vol. 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0126.htm></ref> He explains that on the “day of the Sun,” or Sunday, all the Christians in the area congregate together in one place. First they read the memoirs of the Apostles and then the writings of the prophets. Subsequently, the presbyter, or leader, exhorts the congregation and encourages them to imitate the “good things” they have heard. After this, the bread and wine are brought forth and prayed over and then distributed to the congregation. He specifically mentions that the members receive the bread saying, “Amen,” which means, “I believe” or “I assent.” Lastly, prayers or petitions are offered for the congregation and the wider community and the consecrated bread and wine and brought to those in the community who were unable to attend the service. So, as the evidence from the Didache and the First Apology suggests, the celebration of the Eucharist seems to be a particularly important aspect of Christian worship services in antiquity.
====Who was in charge?====There is a substantial debate on what the earliest hierarchical structure of the Church looked like. Roman Catholics assert that Peter was designated a special leadership role (the Petrine function) among the Apostles and is believed to be the first pope. Catholics of the Roman rite point to Matthew 16 to demonstrate this: “And I tell you, you are Peter,and on this rock , I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19). In additionAlso, they assert the bishopric of Rome has an unbroken line of succession from Peter until the present day. Even if Peter did have the main leadership role in the early church, it is clear that both James and John were highly regarded authorities as well. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians , he refers to these three (Peter, James, and John) as the “pillars” and expresses a need to present them with his Gospel to ensure it’s veracity and sincerity (Galatians 2:1-10). ===Women in the Church===One topic generating an ever-growing discussion is the role of women in the early Christian communities. Were they given leadership roles? It is hard to deny that women were, in fact, entrusted with some level of authority in early Christian communities. Jesus himself has several close disciples that were women and seemed to challenge their traditional subservient role. As Irvin and Sunquist note, “Throughout his teaching and ministry he invited women and men alike to begin to live in a new family pattern that was non-patriarchal, doing so accord to the values of the coming reign of God.”<ref>Irvin & Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement. (New York: Orbis, 2008), pg. 23.</ref> There are also several women that Paul explicitly grants authority to within his epistles, Prisca and Pheobe, and distinguishes them as leaders of various communities.<ref>For more on women in the early Church see: Ehrman, Bart D. Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).</ref>
===Conclusion=Women in the Church====One topic generating an ever-growing discussion is the role of women in the early Christian communities. Were they given leadership roles? It is hard to deny that women were entrusted with some level of authority in early Christian communities. Jesus himself has several close disciples that were women and seemed to challenge their traditional subservient role. As Irvin and Sunquist note, “Throughout his teaching and ministry, he invited women and men alike to begin to live in a new family pattern that was non-patriarchal, doing so accord to the values of the coming reign of God.”<ref>Irvin & Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement. (New York: Orbis, 2008), pg. 23.</ref> There are also several women that Paul explicitly grants authority to within his epistles, Prisca and Pheobe, and distinguishes them as leaders of various communities.<ref>For more on women in the early Church see: Ehrman, Bart D. Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).</ref>
====Conclusion====All of this being said, it is important to note that the early Christian church was far from monolithic. During the first few centuries of Christianity, the New Testament canon had not yet been compiled , and the hierarchical structure of the Church was still in flux. What would eventually become the systematization of the medieval Church was part of an evolutionary process that has its beginnings here in antiquity.
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Updated December 17, 2018.
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