Raymond Browns The Church - Essay Example

The Church Instructions: REQUIRED SOURCE Brown SS, Raymond E. The Church the Apostles Left Behind. New York: Paulist press, 1984 The goal of the paper is twofold: 1. Indicate your personal understanding of the authors themes 2. Explain how this understanding applies to you personally and professionally. ****Note to writer: a little bit of my profession: Im teaching religion, specifically confirmation for teenagers, in a parish school. Raymond Brown’s The Church the Apostles Left Behind is an excellent study of the Early Church and its main communities after the death of the Apostles towards the middle of the 1st century AD. The Apostles had played a major if not the most significant role in building up and nurturing the Early Churches after the death of Jesus. Perhaps the most notable of them were St Peter who took Christianity all the way to Rome and St Paul whose letters to the various Early Church contained much advice and guidance, and continue to do so as an integral part of the New Testament. St Peter and St Paul were perhaps the two most important influences on the Early Church after Jesus himself and on a par with Jesus’ brother James. The Early Church seemed to face major challenges as the Apostles died out. Despite these challenges the Early Churches would go on developing and would eventually allow Christianity to become the sole official religion of the Roman Empire some three centuries later, the same Roman Empire that had tried so hard to eliminate the Early Churches. Evidence about the Early Church was recorded not only in the New Testament especially the letters of St Paul, the letters of James, St Matthew’s gospel and the Book of Acts it was recorded by non-Christians within the Roman Empire. The writing of the four gospels of the New Testament was given greater urgency by the fact that the Apostles and those who had actually witnessed Jesus for themselves were dying through old age and persecution. Raymond Brown wrote The Church the Apostles Left Behind for various reasons. One reason was to examine and explain how the Early Church not only survived the death of the Apostles yet also how it would eventually prosper in the face of persecution and hostility. Brown concentrated on studying and writing about the seven main Early Churches such as those of the Corinthians and Rome. To be a Christian in the 1st century AD not only put people into a tiny minority it also put them at great personal risk, Jesus, St Peter and St Paul had all been executed and would be followed by many ordinary Christians. The strength of faith and bravery of many members of the Early Church had to be admired. The Early Church seemed to well endowed with the Holy Spirit and strong sense of its own convictions. All good Christians should after all be prepared to stand and fight for what they believe to be right. Brown also explored how the Early Churches started to organise themselves in terms of developing the roles of the ministry and the laity as well as the orders of the ministry. Those that were left behind had to continue developing the Early Churches’ doctrines and beliefs to achieve internal coherence, keep true to the teachings of Jesus and assist in the recruitment of new converts. The Early Churches were not a single united Church with exactly the same doctrines, practices and organisation in each separate Christian community. Even without the threat of persecutions there were internal problems that could have permanently fragmented the Early Churches. Each branch of the church had its own views on doctrine, rites and the spreading of the Christian faith. Even in the face of persecution from the Roman authorities and disputes with the Jewish religious leaders in the Holy Land the Early Churches were divided other some important issues. There was the main divide between the Christians that had been Jewish and those that had been Gentiles before their conversions to Christianity especially relating to the need to obey Jewish laws as set out in the Old Testament. St Paul was the main promoter of the Gentile – Christian churches whilst the author of St Matthew gospel was the strongest advocate of maintaining Old Testament laws and coincidentally the first person to describe the Christian communities as belonging to the same church. The case of the Jewish – Christians was certainly harmed when they barred from using Jewish synagogues around 70 AD. In the long term gaining converts amongst the Gentiles proved more effective for the survival and expansion of the Christian religion. Another key to the survival of the Early Churches was the adoption of a separate Christian identity reinforced by a belief that as communities the churches were God’s chosen people. The Early Church after the Apostles had died can as Raymond Brown shows provide valuable lessons for present day Christians when looking to make their lives and Churches better and more effective. The people that belonged to the Early Church had similar problems to us Christians now in that their strengths and weaknesses were also similar to our own. Much about the human race may have changed in the last two thousand years may have changed yet peoples merits and flaws have remained remarkably consistent. St Paul and others wrote about Christians being separated from others by their morality and their spirituality. The Apostles had tried their best to spread the Christian message and beliefs as far as possible after been imbued with the Holy Spirit and took Christianity to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Necessity meant that most of the Early Churches were relatively small in numbers and did not usually have a set place of worship and would meet in the safest and most secret places possible. Many members of the Early Churches had not at first wanted to formalise doctrine, rites and structures as they had expected the world to end with the second coming of Christ within their own life times. Once the Second Coming of Christ stopped appearing to be imminent they looked more seriously at doctrinal and organisational issues. The Early Churches were able to survive because they developed sacraments to reinforce their faith and pass it on to their families and other members of their communities. Perhaps the two most important sacraments were that of baptism and communion. Baptism was a sign of rebirth into life as a member of Christ’s church; communion enables the recipient to have their sins forgiven through Christ’s sacrifice. Teaching and preaching were critical for the survival of the Early Churches, processes that were greatly assisted by the writing of the New Testament. St Paul tried to keep the churches that he had founded on the straight and narrow by writing letters to them to ensure that they were morally and doctrinally sound whilst having a sense of being well led. Other early Church leaders such as Timothy tried to keep their congregations well advised through the letters they received from other churches. Other letter such as those from Peter urged Christians to stay united and strong in the face of persecution and danger. At a personal and professional level there is much that can be leant from the Early Churches after the Apostles had died out. Firstly a Christian should not give up in trying to lead a Christian life full of faith and integrity with plenty of sharing and caring. The struggles that the members of the Early Churches had to endure seemed much more dangerous to their physical safety than most Christians (certainly in the West) would face today. The Early Churches are a source of inspiration as they carried on with following their faith when in most cases it would have been safer to abandon it. One of the main points to emerge from looking at the Early Churches presented by Brown is that the whole church is always going to be full of diverse doctrines and rites. Yet that the Holy Spirit can give Christians a great sense of unity as well as the urge to further the living gospel. Teaching and preaching are a vital factor for the continuation of Christianity as much in the present as they were nearly 2000 years ago. Teaching children about Christianity is I belief a valuable way not only of contributing to the health of Christianity it is also a means to promote better morality and decency in my local community. Teaching about Christianity reinforces my own beliefs and faith whilst passing on those beliefs to others. Christianity is about creating and maintaining one big family united by the Holy Spirit and trying to follow the examples of Jesus and the Apostles. I would hope that I contribute positively to this big family by nurturing the young people I have the privilege of teaching into becoming fine adults and good Christians. Bibliography Brown SS, Raymond E. The Church the Apostles Left Behind. New York: Paulist press, 1984 Read More