The Church According to Paul: Rediscovering the Community Conformed to Christ
Overview
Amid conflicting ideas about what the church should be and do in a post-Christian climate, the missing voice is that of Paul. The New Testament’s most prolific church planter, Paul faced diverse challenges as he worked to form congregations. Leading biblical scholar James Thompson examines Paul’s ministry of planting and nurturing churches in the pre-Christian world to offer guidance for the contemporary church. The church today, as then, must define itself and its mission among people who have been shaped by other experiences of community. Thompson shows that Paul offers an unprecedented vision of the community that is being conformed to the image of Christ. He also addresses contemporary (mis)understandings of words like missional, megachurch, and formation.
In the Logos edition, this volume is enhanced by amazing functionality. Important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Perform powerful searches to find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.
Looking for more Pauline theology? Check out Paul’s use of the Prophetic Tradition in 2 Corinthians (2 vols.)
- Establishes Paul’s ecclesiology
- Shows how the modern church can benefit by understanding the ancient church
- Balances academic rigor with practical application
- A Community Like No Other: The Key Themes—from Paul’s First Letter
- Not Just Any Body: The Church and Paul’s Corporate Christology
- The Church Made Visible: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans
- Spiritual Formation Is Corporate Formation: The Transformative Church in Romans and 2 Corinthians
- Justification Is about Unification: The Death of Jesus and the People of God in Romans and Galatians
- “Missional” May Not Mean What You Think: Evangelism and Social Action according to Paul
- The Universal Church Is the Local Church: Koinōnia according to Paul
- Discovering the Real Megachurch: Cosmic Church and House Church in the Disputed Letters
- Leadership Like No Other for a Community Like No Other: Authority and Ministry in the Undisputed Letters
Top Highlights
“Communion with Christ is inseparable from communion with fellow believers.17” (Page 53)
“Contrary to a popular view, the primary focus of the Pastoral Epistles is not the establishment of a church order but the preservation of the apostolic faith in Paul’s absence.” (Page 22)
“The shape of the worship service is determined less by theological reflection than by the preferences of consumers who are engaged in comparison shopping among churches.” (Page 11)
“God calls communities rather than individuals, who live faithfully only in community.” (Page 244)
“Existence ‘in Christ’ is a life in the company of others who share in the destiny of Christ (2:14). Ecclesiology and Christology are thus inseparable. The church is unlike all other communities, because the people died ‘with Christ’ and now live ‘in Christ.’ Thus the individual believer apart from the community is inconceivable to Paul.” (Page 56)
Always with one foot planted firmly in the academy and the other in the church, James Thompson has given us a highly insightful, theologically rich, and timely study of the apostle Paul’s view of the church—one of the best Pauline ecclesiologies in print.
—Michael J. Gorman, Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, St. Mary’s Seminary & University
James Thompson’s The Church according to Paul is as challenging as it is clever. It is clever because Thompson takes contemporary visions of the church and replaces the language of their proponents with Paul’s own language, thereby upturning today’s categories. It is challenging because it virtually dares those who are concerned with the state of the church today to rethink the church according to the mind of Paul.
—Raymond F. Collins, visiting scholar, Department of Religious Studies, Brown University
As James Thompson wisely observes, most contemporary discussion of the church shows little evidence of engagement with the letters of Paul. In this careful volume, Thompson studies the church in Paul’s words and his work, in the hope that Paul’s rich wisdom might have its rightful place in contemporary Christian reflection.
—Beverly Roberts Gaventa, distinguished professor of New Testament, Department of Religion, Baylor University
- Title: The Church according to Paul: Rediscovering the Community Conformed to Christ
- Author: James W. Thompson
- Publisher: Baker Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2014
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Pages: 303
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul › Theology; Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul › Criticism, interpretation, etc; Church › Biblical teaching
- ISBNs: 9781441221292, 9780801048821, 1441221298, 0801048826
- Resource ID: LLS:CHRCHCCRDNGPL
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T22:37:20Z