Pilgrim Library Christian Classics
The Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries

The Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries

Thomas Martin Lindsay (1843–1914) was a Scottish church historian and principal of the Free Church College, Glasgow. His writing joined careful handling of the sources with a clear, readable narrative of the churches he studied, from the apostolic age to the Reformation. Our library carries The Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries (1902); his two-volume History of the Reformation (1906–1907) surveyed the movement country by country and was long a standard textbook.

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First published
1902
Length
95k words · about 6 hours
Chapters
17

About this book

Thomas M. Lindsay's study of the church and its ministry during the early centuries, published in 1902. Lindsay traces how the oversight of congregations developed from the apostolic age onward, examining bishops, elders, and deacons in the earliest Christian writings. The book offers a historical account of the origins of church order for readers interested in ministry's foundations.

Contents

  1. Preface.
  2. Extract Declaration of Trust.
  3. Chapter I. The New Testament Conception of the Church.
  4. Chapter II. A Christian Church in Apostolic Times. 🔒
  5. Chapter III. The Prophetic Ministry. 🔒
  6. Chapter IV. The Churches Creating Their Ministry. · Part 1 🔒
  7. Chapter IV. The Churches Creating Their Ministry. · Part 2 🔒
  8. Chapter IV. The Churches Creating Their Ministry. · Part 3 🔒
  9. Chapter V. The Ministry in the Second Century. 🔒
  10. Chapter VI. The Fall of the Prophetic Ministry and the Conservative Revolt. · Part 1 🔒
  11. Chapter VI. The Fall of the Prophetic Ministry and the Conservative Revolt. · Part 2 🔒
  12. Chapter VI. The Fall of the Prophetic Ministry and the Conservative Revolt. · Part 3 🔒
  13. Chapter VII. Ministry Changing to Priesthood. · Part 1 🔒
  14. Chapter VII. Ministry Changing to Priesthood. · Part 2 🔒
  15. Chapter VII. Ministry Changing to Priesthood. · Part 3 🔒
  16. Chapter VIII. The Roman State Religion and Its Effects on the Organization of the Church. 🔒
  17. Appendix. Sketch of the History of Modern Controversy About the Office-bearers in the Primitive Christian Churches. 🔒

Reading groups

🌐 Public discussionOpen to every reader of this book

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