The Churches The Apostles Left Behind

Even though Raymond is a devout catholic, he doesn't let his faith override his Biblical scholarship. He quickly points out that doctrines and beliefs are not always based upon the Bible and scripture for Catholics, but rather what the Pope has established as doctrines and beliefs for the church. When he covers an issue where his beliefs are based upon the teachings of the church and not Biblical reading, he promptly points that out.This book is an honest look at what we find in the pages of the New Testament relative to the formation of groups or "churches" after the death of Christ and the early apostles. It is evident, as he points out, that the New Testament record shows there was no such thing as a single church with a singular view, interpretation, and understanding of matters concerning faith, Jesus, grace, the law, Judaism. He shows how James, the brother of Jesus, became the leading apostle at Jerusalem and "Christianity" continued for a quarter century for most of the Jerusalem Church to be a continuation of Jewish practices, including the sacrificial system, sabbath observance, clean and unclean foods, with a belief in a resurrected Christ and his soon coming kingdom. This simply means that the early church kept the Sabbath day on Saturday, observed Jewish customs, continued with dietary laws, all contrary to those who interject in Christ's life his supposed change in teaching relative to Sabbath and foods. It just wasn't the case. E.P. Sanders, Meier, and N.T. Wright have all concluded the same. Christ in no way changed the Sabbath to Sunday or even hinted of a change. The early church was very Jewish.Different church groups can be found in the scriptures. Other groups or churches in other areas followed Paul, some followed Peter, or John, each with their own interpretations and slant. Raymond believes there is credible information to show that there was a church addressed by the first gospel (Matthew).Raymond is my favorite theologian even though I am in no way a Catholic. He writes clearly and concisely without the usual pedantic wordiness of so many writers. This book will open your eyes to things out of the books of Acts, the Epistles, and the gospels you have most likely never focused.

The Bible is actually a library of many books and sometimes can be pretty intimidating to read. We have trouble finding what's important to read, let alone trying to read it all - and then try to put it all together. Luckily for us, many Priests/ Religious Leaders have done the work for you, and we can learn from them. One caveat - some 'teachers' of the faith have little or no formal training while others have 8 and 12 years of College degrees from trusted Universities and Seminaries. So you need to be aware of where you get your information from. For example, any Catholic Priest will have a minimum of 8 years of college including Seminary. Raymond Brown who has taught many years for Protestant Universities, is a well decorated Catholic Priest.Getting to the book - You will be amazed and nod your head throughout the book as things start to make a lot more sense. You will need a basic understanding of the Bible - I would recommend reading 'The Bible Blueprint' by Joe Paprocki. Another good book by Raymond Brown that would be good to read first is 'An Adult Christ at Christmas'. Even after reading these and other good books, I still had a little trouble in the first chapter that overviewed all the New Testament letters, relating them to the travels of Paul and some other Apostles. I managed to skim through though, and the second chapter was much easier to follow with a much smaller focus.At first, I new very little about the many letters of the New Testament, now I feel that my Spirit has grown tenfold through the wisdom I've gained by reading this book! It has great insights into the differences of many churches today.

Raymond Brown's investigation into the Apostolic communities of the early Church provides a solid biblical foundation for studies of the Church. It offers a mature view of the scripture which attests to these communities. While remaining orthodox, Brown does not appeal to less-informed views of the Bible. Instead, he views the testimony of the New Testament writers within their realistic historical contexts. It is from his view of these contexts that his work derives most of its strength.Brown looks at each book (or set of books) that he investigates as an example which addresses the strengths and weaknesses of the community which caused the writing to come into effect. He realizes that the work of the New Testament is one which is an organic whole, no one work being a microcosm of the message of the New Covenant. By starting from this perspective, Brown is able to explain the strengths and weaknesses of each community and how each is addressed in the works associated with them. This gives a mature view of how scripture informs us, as a whole, not as isolated parts.In the study of ecclesiology, it can become very tempting to approach the views of the Church from a solely historical perspective, without taking reflection to scripture. Brown's book gives a good starting background to investigating ecclesiology as a whole, scriptural and traditional.

Immancabile testo di riferimento da uno dei migliori biblisti mai esistiti.

Excellent

The context of Vatican Council changed much in the life of church. The papacy as well, need change and be understood in the new enviroment. read for more better undestading

Fr. Brown created a stir in some quarters of the Catholic world by his habit of taking on board the insights of modern Biblical criticism; those who would rather keep things simple should stay away from his books. Those who wish to see the way in which an intelligent and thoughtful Catholic can adapt those insights to the teaching of the Church should read on. The structure - taking the various models of a church to be found in the Pauline, Petrine, Johannine and Synoptic books of the Bible - can be misread as supposing that such constructs actually existed, and as implying that no modern Church exhibits all of the characteristics laid out here. That is the only weakness in the model Fr. Brown adopts; its strengths are many. In asking the question of how the Churches survived the death of the Apostles, he brings out the strengths of the various models he identifies, showing how they helped believers to see beyond the short-term expectations of an imminent second coming. The weaknesses he identifies in each model certainly offer material for thoughtful reflection, and by extrapolating the major strengths of each type of church, he offers an implied portrait of the ideal Church. His work is, as ever, challenging, but worth the engagement it commands.

Thought provoking