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  • The Ancient Church: Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution by William Dool Killen.
  • Catalog Record: The ancient church : its history, doctrine, | Hathi Trust Digital Library.

The word church is usually, but not exclusively, associated with Christianity. The term means something quite different for each religious institution that sees itself as belonging to the Christian traditions. This ecclesiology describes those people, including other Christians, not in full communion with the Church as standing in several degrees of imperfect communion; other churches are recognised as legitimate to varying degrees, but also as deviant from the true and orthodox Christian faith to varying degrees. The word 'church' lower case c also describes particular different groups of tradition within the Church, e.

The other Eastern churches such as the Oriental Orthodox are also viewed by both in this way. Anglicans feel that they are but a branch of the Church. In both the secular and the Protestant views, the Christian Church is a religiously ambiguous and cultural-sociological term to refer to all religions based on the worship of Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God. Ratings and Reviews 0 0 star ratings 0 reviews. Overall rating No ratings yet 0. How to write a great review Do Say what you liked best and least Describe the author's style Explain the rating you gave Don't Use rude and profane language Include any personal information Mention spoilers or the book's price Recap the plot.

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Would you like us to take another look at this review? No, cancel Yes, report it Thanks! You've successfully reported this review. We appreciate your feedback. December 15, ISBN: You can read this item using any of the following Kobo apps and devices: Ariel Paiement marked it as to-read Jul 09, Eric Kauska marked it as to-read Aug 31, Matthew George marked it as to-read Oct 28, Anderson marked it as to-read Nov 15, Robert marked it as to-read Dec 29, Attila Balogh is currently reading it Feb 03, Dena Stirling marked it as to-read Feb 09, Mirta marked it as to-read Mar 31, Sherri Thompson marked it as to-read Jun 28, Joel Ickes marked it as to-read Aug 06, Thomas Lucente marked it as to-read Nov 14, Mark Burkholder marked it as to-read Jan 11, Mark Werderitsch marked it as to-read Jan 31, Valerie marked it as to-read Feb 16, K Rae marked it as to-read Feb 28, Star Shining Forever marked it as to-read Aug 21, Alice J Platt marked it as to-read Aug 31, Doc marked it as to-read Sep 10, Diane D Rossman is currently reading it Sep 13, Shawna Bandow marked it as to-read Sep 23, Courteney marked it as to-read Nov 29, Stephen Robertson marked it as to-read Dec 12, Carol Nkambule is currently reading it Dec 21, Adrian C Reeves marked it as to-read Jan 07, The Didache had not been discovered and would have added to Killen's analysis.

These range from intentional histories to epistles by elders to letters written about Christians by governing authorities. The first third of the book is a historical retelling of the New Testament, where Scripture is essentially the sole source. What I found most interesting was to compare the scholarship given on the gospels and various epistles to modern-day works, almost none of which quote Killen or even the sources that Killen quotes.

Constitution worship

This gives the reader a picture of how biblical scholarship has changed over the years as new discoveries have come to light or new modes of thinking come into vogue. I find a few of the dates he gives for some of the epistles to differ from modern texts, but I would recommend this portion of Killen's book as an Intro to the New Testament.

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My hope in studying this book was to find "pure" church practice-- how did the Apostles set things up, and how did we later corrupt those practices? Killen cautions the reader against such thinking, arguing that we're better off in modern times to determine correct practice since we have much better access to Scripture and history than those living then. An accurate knowledge of its constitution would only have exposed it more fearfully to the attacks of persecuting Emperors. Every effort would have been made to discover the times and places of the meetings of pastors and teachers, and to inflict a deadly wound on the Church by the destruction of its office-bearers.


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Hence, in general, its courts appear to have assembled in profound secrecy; and thus it is that, for the first three centuries, so little is known of the proceedings of these conventions. But Killen notes that Eusebius "is not entitled to the praise of a great historian," and argues his work is an "unsatisfactory performance. There are good explanations of the various heresies that arose during the first three centuries and how they were addressed.

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I found his description of the various forms of Gnosticism very helpful. The heresies are described in order to explain the change in ecclesiastic constitution over the first two hundred years. Killen takes special care in the last chapters to explain the rise of the Catholic prelate, and to show that it was contrary to the earliest days of church leadership and what had been exemplified by the Apostles. Early on, churches resembled Jewish synagogues and questions of worship and doctrine were referred to the Apostles in Jerusalem: In Acts 15 the parties proceeded in the matter in much the same way as Israelites were accustomed to act Had a controversy relative to any Mosaic ceremony divided the Jewish population of Antioch, they would have appealed for a decision to their Great Sanhedrin; and now, when this dispute distracted the Christians of the capital of Syria, they had recourse to another tribunal at Jerusalem which they considered competent to pronounce a deliverance.

This tribunal consisted virtually of the rulers of the universal Church; for the apostles, who had a commission to all the world, and elders from almost every place where a Christian congregation existed, were in the habit of repairing to the capital of Palestine In accordance with the free spirit of the gospel dispensation, it appears to have consisted of as many ecclesiastical rulers as could conveniently attend its meetings.

But the times were somewhat perilous; and it is probable that the ministers of the early Christian Church did not deem it expedient to congregate in very large numbers. Each presbytery tended to have a "president" to maintain order, conduct meetings, etc. Smaller congregations likely had only one presbyter.

The Ancient Church Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution by W. D. (William Dool) Killen

The president, later "bishop," was initially the oldest member of the presbytery. One wonders how much of that is Asian cultural deference to age and how much was Spirit-led. The presbytery was bestowed by the laying on of hands, and this practice occurred for several men whom were acknowledged to eventually become bishops-- there was essentially an order of succession created for when the previous bishops died, based on seniority. The age deference created a problem in that many early churches, particularly the Jerusalem church, saw a high rate of turnover in its presidents.

However, the system soon allowed for popular election as popular presbyters campaigned among the entire body for their election. This created a problem as heresies became popular--you might have popular heretics elected to the presidency. Gradually, the bishop gained more power and authority-- baptisms and other ordinances could not occur without his presence or blessing-- over the presbytery.

As the church grew, this model was reproduced. Professional presbyters became more common, and even encouraged. How much of this came from pagan Greek ie: As heresies arose, the church trusted a few bishops with more power-- it was "for a cure of schism," as Jerome put it. They also became more powerful over church funds, and were supported by the church.

Who better to trust than those leaders who had withstood trial and persecution? Rome had one of the biggest heresy problems, and its response of power consolidation was then copied by many of the smaller cities. The term "catholic" later developed to distinguish orthodox from heterodox. The hope was that in enlarging the influence of non-heretics, the heresies could be marginalized. Ultimate power in the hands of the Roman bishop was an outgrowth of the size and influence of the Roman church, and it was later justified on a bogus basis that Peter had been given such a role himself as head of the church at Rome, and his successors therefore inherited his mantle.

With power came corruption and political intrigue. This became worse once Christianity was endorsed by the Roman Emperor.