When the Church Was a Family: Recapturing Jesus' Vision for Authentic Christian Community

by Joseph H. Hellerman

Publisher:

B&H

, 2009

Overview

Spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community. But as the modern cultural norm of what social scientists call “radical American individualism” extends itself, many Christians grow lax in their relational accountability to the church. Faith threatens to become an “I” not “us,” a “my God” not “our God” concern.

When the Church Was a Family calls believers back to the wisdom of the first century, examining the early Christian church from a sociohistorical perspective and applying the findings to the evangelical church in America today. With confidence, author Joseph Hellerman writes intentionally to traditional church leaders and emerging church visionaries alike, believing what is detailed here about Jesus’ original vision for authentic Christian community will deeply satisfy the relational longings of both audiences.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Principle #1: In the New Testament world the group took priority over the individual.” (Page 32)

“Note this well. In Mediterranean antiquity, blood runs deeper than romantic love.” (Page 38)

“People did not convert to Christianity solely because of what the early Christians believed. They converted because of the way in which the early Christians behaved.” (Page 105)

“It is my intention to demonstrate that our radical overemphasis on a personal relationship with God is an American—not a biblical—theological construction. What we find in the Bible, rather, is a God who seems at least as concerned with His group (me in relationship with my brothers and sisters in Christ) as He is with the individual (me in relationship with God).” (Page 7)

“The heart of this book is concerned with recapturing the social vision of the early Christian church as a strong-group, surrogate family.” (Page 31)

Product Details

• Title: When the Church Was a Family: Recapturing Jesus' Vision for Authentic Christian Community
• Author: Joseph H. Hellerman
• Publisher: B&H
• Print Publication Date: 2009
• Logos Release Date: 2012
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Church › Unity; Communities › Religious aspects--Christianity; Fellowship › Religious aspects--Christianity
• ISBNs: 9781430076049, 9781433668432, 1433668432, 1430076046
• Resource ID: LLS:A9240FCE3ABA7C452223485B60C6D8DD
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-06T20:45:22Z

About Joseph H. Hellerman

Joseph H. Hellerman is a social historian with a PhD from UCLA and seminary training at Talbot Seminary. Hellerman also co-pastors a church near his home in California. His other publications include The Ancient Church as Family, Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi, and Jesus and the People of God: Reconfiguring Ethnic Identity.