The Meeting that Changed the World: The Council of Jerusalem AD 49

by Michael Knowles

Publisher:

Sacristy Press

, 2019

The Council of Jerusalem in 49 AD and recorded in the Acts of the Apostles is the beginning of the Church's mission to the Gentiles. In a close reading of the biblical texts about the Council, the author, a Roman Catholic Biblical Theologian, explores how the Council's hard-won decision to move from nationalism to universalism is not only the most important event in the history of the early Church but remains a constant challenge for the Church today if it wants to remain credible in the contemporary world and to its own members.

Praise for The Meeting that Changed the World

This is an interesting and thoughtful book, admirably attentive to the text of Acts.

The book offers a challenge particularly relevant in this year of Cardinal Newman’s canonisation: in the light of his Essay on the Development of Doctrine, how far can you embrace radical change while staying true to the deposit of faith?

Knowles’s book is unique in his approach to the Council of Jerusalem, especially his thorough study of the main tensions in the Acts of the Apostles that led to the meeting in Jerusalem.

Knowles interprets the ruling of the Jerusalem Council as brushing away centuries of elitism and misogyny, and along the way he makes a strong case for women’s full admittance to church ministry. He also makes the only convincing argument for universal salvation (not just for fully paid-up Christians) I have ever read. … All Christians should read this book.

Product Details

• Title: The Meeting that Changed the World: The Council of Jerusalem AD 49
• Author: Michael Knowles
• Publisher: Sacristy Press
• Print Publication Date: 2019
• Logos Release Date: 2023
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9781789590289, 9781789590265, 1789590264, 9781789590272, 1789590272, 1789590280
• Resource ID: LLS:9781789590289
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2023-12-26T08:05:55Z

About Michael Knowles

Michael Knowles is a biblical theologian and writer. He studied philosophy, theology and sociology in Dublin, Poona, Cambridge and London and taught sociology at a London secondary school and the philosophy of religion together with early church history at Crewe FE college. He is a former secretary of the Hackney Trades Union Council and assistant secretary of the London Federation of Trades Councils as well as founder and chairman of the Save the Walthamstow Marshes Campaign (1978-1983; resulting in the marshes being declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest) and a Labour Party councillor on the Congleton Town Council, Cheshire. Now retired, he lives in Cheshire with his wife Jane.