Objectives

By the end of this module you will be able to:

Introduction to Reading 2.1

T. Howland Sanks,. Salt, Leaven & Light: The Community Called Church. New York: Crossroad, 1992. pp. 40-52.

T. Howland Sanks is Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at the Jesuit School of Theology and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. In this book on theology of church he first explores the ways Christians have understood themselves throughout the centuries. He then discusses the church in Vatican II and after Vatican II. Our reading, from chapter 3 of the book, begins the historical survey with a discussion of the church in the New Testament. In my comments I will keep to the major headings and sections of the reading. I will indicate to you what I consider important in the reading. I will attempt to clarify certain issues with additional comments. I will suggest how you might use the reading to achieve the objectives of the module.

Jesus Preaching

Sanks makes the following points about Jesus preaching:

(a) The core of Jesus preaching was the idea of the kingdom of God.

It will be evident from this discussion of Jesus and the kingdom that we cannot simply say that Jesus intended to found the church. On this point Raymond E. Brown makes a number of clarifications. In the four gospels Jesus uses the term ekklesia (church) only twice (Mt.16.18, 18.17). Scholars consider however that these are not the historical words of Jesus. "In what are commonly accepted as historical memories from Jesus ministry... he is singularly silent on foundational or structural issues." (Raymond E. Brown, "Early Church" in ed. Raymond E. Brown and others, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1990, p.1340; for further reading for interest sake, but not compulsory for this module are:

Frederick J. Cwiekowski, The Beginnings of the Church. New York: Paulist, 1988.

Fiorenza, Elisabeth Schüssler, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: Crossroad, 1983.

Exercise 2.1

2.1.1 Discuss the role Jesus envisaged for his disciples in the interim period between his death and the final coming of the kingdom. Is there any sense in which we can say that Jesus intended to found a church?

Reception And Response To Jesus

Sanks considers how Jesus disciples are described in the New Testament. In this section it is important to distinguish the situation of the disciples during Jesus’ lifetime from their situation in the decades immediately following the resurrection.

Perhaps it will not be superfluous to mention that those who accepted Jesus’ proclamation during his lifetime were Jews. They maintained their Jewish tradition. However scholars find it difficult to agree on a description of the disciples in sociological terms. Jesus disciples do not seem to fit into any known category of Jews of the time. Sanks notes that the disciples did not belong to one of the Jewish sects. In his discussion of the first disciples Brown argues that the sociological expression "Jesus movement" should not be used to designate Jesus’ first followers. This designation evokes a modern parallel of leaving their former affiliation to attach themselves to a religious guru. (Brown, "Early Church"p.1340) Many who accepted Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom remained where they were without distinctively changing their lifestyle. Those who followed Jesus about made no overt stance on Jesus’ identity.

It was after Jesus death the disciples developed a sense of community. This is when we can first begin to speak of a church. Sanks writes that "the church is a post-Easter phenomenon based on the faith of the disciples in the risen Jesus"(p.42). The disciples maintained their tradition of Judaism. They continued to pray in the temple. Their breaking of the bread reflected on the Jewish Passover celebration, and the teaching of the apostles was based on the Law and the Prophets. The terms and expressions used by the disciples to understand Jesus and themselves were drawn from the Jewish scriptures.

Finally in this section Sanks addresses the question of the distinctiveness of the early church as regards Judaism. In one paragraph on p.43 Sanks condenses a complex and protracted process. He refers to Christianity appearing as a new religion. Here please let me add to Sank’s discussion some considerations suggesting that the final parting of Jesus’ disciples from Judaism may have been the result of a quite complex and lengthy process. Please let me refer again to Sanks’ principal source for this section, Raymond E. Brown.

Brown points out the pluralism existing in the various Christian communities as regards attitudes to Judaism. The dispute between the Hellenists and the Hebrews recorded in Acts of the Apostles chapter 6 was resolved in diversity. The Jewish disciples of Jesus who rejected Temple worship are designated the Hellenists. The early community gave the Hellenists their own administrators. Another group, the Hebrew (Jewish) Christian community also probably appointed their own administrators. As we move on through these first decades after the Resurrection the situation became more complex. Samaritans and Gentiles began to be admitted to the community of Jesus followers. Several different attitudes towards these non-Jewish disciples of Jesus apparently co-existed amongst the Jewish disciples of Jesus. Brown identifies four different attitudes: (i) There were Jewish Christians who wished no Gentile converts (ii) Peter and James (like Paul) wanted Gentiles accepted without circumcision, but unlike Paul, they required observance of Jewish purity laws (iii) Paul resisted the imposition of the ritual demands of the Jewish Law on Gentile converts (iv) finally, we see in the Letter to the Hebrews and in the fourth gospel the emergence of the view that Judaism was obselete and replaced by Christian belief. Brown argues that the Christian fellowship (koinonia) withstood this wide range of differences.

I hope that these comments from Brown will help you qualify Sanks statement on p.43 that "christianity began to appear as a new religion itself."

To continue to trace for you this process, please let me we summarise Brown’s analysis.

After 65 AD Christianity passed from Jewish to gentile dominance. We may name the period up to 65 AD the apostolic age, and from 65 AD unto the end of the first century as the sub-apostolic age. The leaders before 65 A D were Jews. After 65 AD many of the known leaders were not Jews. After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD the city of Jerusalem no longer had the central role it had before 65 AD. The early interest the disciples had in converting the Jews gave way to attitudes of hostility towards the Jews in a document like the gospel of John. The situation was made more difficult for the disciples from the Jewish side. After the Jewish war Judaism itself became less pluralistic. There was room for debate only within Rabbinic guidelines.

The Jewish Christians were gradually excluded from synagogue worship. There is evidence in the New Testament of the growth to alienation from Judaism. R. Brown writes: "With its adherents made unwelcome in synagogues and gradually becoming more Gentile by percentage, Christianity now more clearly appeared as a new religion. The religious institutions of Israel were regarded as finished (in themselves and for Christians). What was permanently worthwhile was amply taken over as pertaining to Christians not to "unbelieving Jews." 1 Pet 2:9-10 tells Gentile Christian readers: "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people" -titular privileges of Israel in the OT." (p.1344)

However Brown refers to evidence in the sub-apostolic period (i.e., from 65-100 AD) of Christian communities loyal to the institutions of Judaism. There is Matthew’s gospel and the Epistle of James. Second-century sources contained in the 4th century Pseudo-Clementines reflects the Christianity of those who claim that their belief in Jesus as the prophet whom Moses predicted and as the eternal Messiah is the only "difference between us who believe in Jesus over against the Jews who do not believe." (Brown, "Early Church" p.1344). In the conflicts between the adherents of the Pauline tradition and the adherents of the James tradition, the figure of Peter appears as a friend of each group and a "bridge figure."

Exercise 2.1

2.1.2 Discuss why the date 70 AD can be considered a turning point in the history of the relation of Jesus’ disciples to the authorities of Judaism.

Pluralism And Unity In The New Testament

At the outset Sanks makes the point that the New Testament documents reflect very different understandings of the Christian identity. There is no one New Testament ecclesiology. One approach towards understanding christian identity is to examine the terms then New Testament writers use to designate the communities. Terms like koinonia (community, communion) and "the Way" were used. Ekklesia (church) became the most popular. As Brown says, "Granted that Jesus showed little interest in a formally distinct society, it is remarkable how quickly the Christians became community-minded" (Brown, "Early Church" p.1346). When reading Sanks on the Hebrew Bible origin of ekklesia we see another instance of early Christianity’s continuity with Israel and Judaism. Ekklesia is the Jewish Greek translation of the Hebrew term qahal used to designate the assembly of Israel in the desert. In the New Testament documents we find ekklesia referring to a particular local Christian community in the early writings, and then, after 65 AD ekklesia refers to the universal Christian community.

Paul And His Heritage

To illustrate the variety of New Testament ecclesiologies Sanks surveys firstly the Pauline letters. We should keep in mind that the letters of Paul reflect quite different understandings of Christian identity. These letters come from periods as widely separated as the early 50’s (1 Thess) to towards the end of the first century (1-2 Tim, Titus). Sanks presents the Pauline letters in chronological order. The following comments are intended to supplement Sank’s survey on certain points only.

For the situation confronted in Galatians and Romans I refer back to Brown’s discussion of four possible approaches to Gentile converts in the pre-65 period. Jewish missionaries who insisted on circumcision for Gentile converts caused trouble for Paul who did not demand circumcision for converts. Neither did Paul accept Peter’s position that the Gentile converts, while not obliged to circumcision, needed to observe certain Jewish laws with regard to food (Gal. 2.12). Brown makes the point that despite Paul’s bitter reproaches of the "circumcision party" Paul’s opponents seem to have been included within the broad Christian community. (See Brown, Early Church, p.1342). Brown also reminds us that Paul’s position pertained to Gentile converts. "Paul may have allowed the possibility that for Jewish believers in Jesus, there was enduring religious value in the Jewish cult." (Brown, Early Church, p.1342).

In considering the view of church proposed in Colossians and Ephesians we need to keep in mind that these letters are understood to have been written after Paul’s death and in his name. If so, these letters describe parts of the church, that is, certain Christian communities, in the period from 65-100 AD. They are penned by Paul’s disciples writing under his name, and not by Paul personally as is the case with Corinthians and Romans for example.

Perhaps the most striking novelty in these letters in comparison with the pre-65 AD letters is that the church has moved to centre-stage in Christian activity and thought. (Brown, Early Church, p. 1345).

Ekklesia now refers to the universal church. Whereas in First Corinthians Paul had described the local church in terms of "the body of Christ" in Ephesians and Colossians "body of Christ" refers to the universal church, of which Christ is seen as the head. In regard to Judaism, Ephesians refers to the Jews without hostility. The wall of separation has been broken down.

As Sanks writes, the notable feature of church life envisaged in the Pastoral letters (1-2 Timothy, Titus) is the value the writers attach to the church as an ordered institution (ef. Module 5 for church as institution).

To continue your survey of New Testament ecclesiologies please read Sanks on Luke/Acts, on The Matthean Heritage, and on The Johannine Tradition.

Finally please read the conclusions about New Testament Ecclesiology drawn by Sanks on pp. 50-52.

In his conclusion Sanks refers to the diversity and pluralism evident in the various churches. Sanks then identifies the aspects of the basic unity of first century Christianity. (i) The communities had a sense of being united. (ii) Also there was a core of common proclamation or kerygma. (iii) There were also the common rituals of baptism and the Lord’s supper.

Exercise 2.1

2.1.3 Discuss the question: did the disciples get Jesus wrong as the churches developed and expressed their identity in different ways throughout the period documented in the New Testament writings?

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