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Images of the Church in the New Testament
First published in 1960, Paul Minear's classic work identifies and explicates ninety-six images for the church found in the New Testament. Comprehensive and accessibly written, it has been used in seminary classes for over thirty years. Its range of reach and incredibly rich discussions of the many images and metaphors make this book a splendid resource for students and pastors. The New Testament Library offers authoritative commentary on every book and major aspect of the New Testament, as well as classic volumes of scholarship. The commentaries in this series provide fresh translations based on the best available ancient manuscripts, offer critical portrayals of the historical world in which the books were created, pay careful attention to their literary design, and present a theologically perceptive exposition of the text.
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 23, 2020
One of the best books on this topic I have ever read.
January 13, 2021
I found Paul Minear's exhaustive treatise on the images of God in the New Testament while working through the section on ecclesiology in Evangelical Theology: A Biblical and Systematic Introduction. This book, developed at the behest of the World Council of Churches, is intended to provide impetus to the ecumenical movement by allowing (and forcing) each traditions to wrestle with the diversity of imagery used to describe the church in the New Testament. This book is heavy going, but chapters 2 (minor images) and 7 (interrelations of the images) really shine. In fact, most of the chapters are good, with the exception of chapter 4 (the new creation) which was too abstract and moved away from imagery to philosophical categories.
Although the mode of speech will feel dated, as will some of the theological concerns, I think this is a book worth reading and thinking through if you, like me, are rethinking your theology of church in the light of the events of 2020. You will likely need another text to help you interpret this one, but Minear will give you a breadth of material to work with.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
All recent explorations of the nature of the church have made it clear that the church does not have a nature that can be readily defined simply by looking, no matter how directly, at the church itself. Its life springs from, is nourished by, and is oriented toward the fullness of glory of the Triune God. If we would glimpse even the barest outlines of the church, we must take full account of the activity of the living Christ and of the Holy Spirit. (ch.1)
Let us look, then, at the problems posed for Paul by his adversaries in Corinth, who were probably the same group of spiritualist libertarians whose Christian faith had offered a theological justification for sexual license (ch. 6), for continuing to eat in idol’s temples (ch. 10), for self-gratification at the Lord’s table (ch. 11), and for uncontrolled spiritual frenzy in the services of worship (chs. 12 to 14). Several of their questions are explicitly mentioned in ch. 15 and others are mirrored in Paul’s answers. (1) “Some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead.” (V. 12.) (2) Some were perhaps saying in effect: because there is no resurrection “let us eat and drink because tomorrow we die” (v. 32).
The character of this mystery was such that, although the analogies inspired by it could point effectively to it, they could never bound or limit it. For many moderns who crave an exact calculation of the boundaries of the church this is a distressing feature of the New Testament ecclesiological images. Those images are too elusive, too elastic, too ambiguous to satisfy their need. Often the initial recourse is to select one image, to concentrate upon it, to force it into a nonimagistic mold, and then to rely upon it for a definition of boundaries. Thus an image whose primary function had been the perception of reality or the self-recognition by the church of its depths and heights is forced to serve a quite different function, i.e., to enable modern Christians to illustrate their own prefabricated definition of the church and to provide them with a tool for securing agreement from churchmen who think otherwise. (ch. 7)
Often the stance from which our questions arise is a stance outside the church. What is this company of people? What distinguishes it from other institutions and societal groups? Such questions presuppose that we are not asking about the character of our own family from a position within that family. The presuppositions of the New Testament were quite different. There the images were forms of self-recognition adopted by a community whose sense of uniqueness stemmed from the fact that its thought was always centered beyond itself in the majestic activity of the One Father, the One Son, and the One Spirit. Through the diverse figures of speech, the early church recognized itself as a called community whose origin and boundaries and destiny were determined by the powerful promises of Him who sees the end from the beginning. It confessed itself to be a community in which the divine life, glory, and name were mediated afresh from the living “I am.” (ch. 7)
It is good that the documents do not allow us to determine “archaeologically” the original polity of the church. This makes it necessary for every Christian community, however it may be ordered today, to ask not whether its ordering of the ministry accords with a primitive archetype but whether this community as a whole manifests the threefold character of the New Testament church — its apostolic, priestly, and ministerial character. (ch.7)
Although the mode of speech will feel dated, as will some of the theological concerns, I think this is a book worth reading and thinking through if you, like me, are rethinking your theology of church in the light of the events of 2020. You will likely need another text to help you interpret this one, but Minear will give you a breadth of material to work with.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
All recent explorations of the nature of the church have made it clear that the church does not have a nature that can be readily defined simply by looking, no matter how directly, at the church itself. Its life springs from, is nourished by, and is oriented toward the fullness of glory of the Triune God. If we would glimpse even the barest outlines of the church, we must take full account of the activity of the living Christ and of the Holy Spirit. (ch.1)
Let us look, then, at the problems posed for Paul by his adversaries in Corinth, who were probably the same group of spiritualist libertarians whose Christian faith had offered a theological justification for sexual license (ch. 6), for continuing to eat in idol’s temples (ch. 10), for self-gratification at the Lord’s table (ch. 11), and for uncontrolled spiritual frenzy in the services of worship (chs. 12 to 14). Several of their questions are explicitly mentioned in ch. 15 and others are mirrored in Paul’s answers. (1) “Some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead.” (V. 12.) (2) Some were perhaps saying in effect: because there is no resurrection “let us eat and drink because tomorrow we die” (v. 32).
The character of this mystery was such that, although the analogies inspired by it could point effectively to it, they could never bound or limit it. For many moderns who crave an exact calculation of the boundaries of the church this is a distressing feature of the New Testament ecclesiological images. Those images are too elusive, too elastic, too ambiguous to satisfy their need. Often the initial recourse is to select one image, to concentrate upon it, to force it into a nonimagistic mold, and then to rely upon it for a definition of boundaries. Thus an image whose primary function had been the perception of reality or the self-recognition by the church of its depths and heights is forced to serve a quite different function, i.e., to enable modern Christians to illustrate their own prefabricated definition of the church and to provide them with a tool for securing agreement from churchmen who think otherwise. (ch. 7)
Often the stance from which our questions arise is a stance outside the church. What is this company of people? What distinguishes it from other institutions and societal groups? Such questions presuppose that we are not asking about the character of our own family from a position within that family. The presuppositions of the New Testament were quite different. There the images were forms of self-recognition adopted by a community whose sense of uniqueness stemmed from the fact that its thought was always centered beyond itself in the majestic activity of the One Father, the One Son, and the One Spirit. Through the diverse figures of speech, the early church recognized itself as a called community whose origin and boundaries and destiny were determined by the powerful promises of Him who sees the end from the beginning. It confessed itself to be a community in which the divine life, glory, and name were mediated afresh from the living “I am.” (ch. 7)
It is good that the documents do not allow us to determine “archaeologically” the original polity of the church. This makes it necessary for every Christian community, however it may be ordered today, to ask not whether its ordering of the ministry accords with a primitive archetype but whether this community as a whole manifests the threefold character of the New Testament church — its apostolic, priestly, and ministerial character. (ch.7)
July 15, 2019
This is a classic, and original, survey of almost 100 images, metaphors and analogies for the church in the NT, broadly categorised and with some concluding reflections. The best word to describe this book is probably “stimulating”. I can’t go higher than three stars, for a few reasons: Minear seems to stray from his remit quite a bit, some of his claims are just bizarre (e.g. finding the image of the flock in the announcement to the shepherds in Luke 2), and I found the concluding chapter quite hard work. But this book will make you think, it will make you grow to appreciate more of the riches of NT portrayal of God’s people, and hopefully it will leave you amazed that Jesus would go to all of this effort for people like us.
December 12, 2017
An extremely thought provoking book. I have never read anything like it on the author's chosen subject matter. A good read for every pastor and member concerned about the place of the church in his life and in God's plans.
July 22, 2018
Beautiful research and clear background on every image the NT authors use to describe the church. Essential for every church community to have as a scriptural study resource.
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January 2, 2022Great. Very thorough. Used for a class I taught.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews