The Church According to the New Testament: What the Wisdom and Witness of Early Christianity Teach Us Today

Rating:
Summary: Didactical and refreshing
Review: Beyond the title which is centred on what is currently viewed as the original Church, the question is « Did Jesus found the Church? »
The best way to reach the answer is to read the book. This will give the reader the opportunity to discover that the interest of the book does not lie so much in the answer itself, as in all the things that one will discover on the way, while progressing towards the answer.
One of them is a method for reading the various books of the New Testament by starting to put them in context. In other words, by making a quick overview of who wrote the text, when, for what kind of people, in what social and historical context and for what particular purpose. All things that are essential to anybody who wants to extract the genuine substance of the message.
There is nothing more deceiving than to isolate a few lines from an unknown context and to apply them literally 2000 years later in a different world. This process can also be dangerous if it is used to support a particular ideology.
Another interesting thing regarding a better understanding of the Scriptures is the idea of "hermeneutical spiral" superseding that of "hermeneutical circle." It still runs from Jesus to the texts, the Christian experience and back to Jesus, but it adds a third dimension to the dynamic. It enables us not to go around forever in circles, but to rise each time a little closer to the ultimate truth.
Last but not least, the reader will discover all along the book a variety of interesting insights on basic notions such as wisdom, resurrection, disciple, apostle, baptism, the Lord's Supper and the essence of the Gospel itself. One gets the impression that the author has blown off some centuries of accumulated dust over these definitions, and given them a fresh meaning more consistent with their original purpose and more closely related to our overall life.

Rating:
Summary: Articulate, insightful, informed and informative reading.
Review: The Church According To The New Testament: What The Wisdom And Witness Of Early Christianity Teach Us Today by the learned biblical scholar Daniel Harrington (Professor of New Testament, Weston Jesuit School of Theology) draws upon biblical and ecumenical theology to help the reader better appreciate and understand what the foundational Christian texts teach about the Church. The focus is on what the theological content of the individual books comprising the New Testament can tell us about being a community of faith in the contemporary world. Questions for reflection and discussion are provided to assist the reader in learning to apply the wisdom of the new Testament and the witness of early Christians to the issues and concerns of modern life. The Church According To The New Testament is articulate, insightful, informed and informative reading.

Rating:
Summary: Realistic and Helpful
Review: Wisely avoiding the temptation to depict the earliest Church as idyllic, Professor Harrington explores the texts of the New Testament (and a few non-canonical texts from the apostolic fathers) to extrapolate what we might learn about, and from, Jesus' first followers. The result is a book that is both profound and practical. Exposing the similarities between the first and the twenty-first century milieus in which the Church must minister, Father Harrington demonstrates the wisdom of looking to the early Church for operational religious models in the modern world.