Vision for the Church

What is the Church? Perhaps more importantly, what is it meant to be? How did ti's earliest members understand this body of which they had become a part? How did they envisage what it ought to be and might become? This collection of fifteen early essays by an international group of New Testament experts is made in honour of John Sweet. They bring together in one volume a dynamic range of perspectives on how the early Christians viewed the Church: its origin, purpose and relation to the Jewish Scriptures and to Jesus Christ; its place in the world and in God's plan; its community life and worship, both in theory and in practice. The concluding chapter draws together the various recurrent strands of early Christianity's relationship with Judaism. Concise and accesible, with reading lists for each chapter, the book covers every New Testament author and ranges in time from the Greek Old Testatment to the Apostolic Fathers. Markus Bockmuehl is University Lecturer in Divinity and Fellow and Tutor of Fiztwilliam Collge, Cambridge. Michael B. Thompson is Director of Studies and Lecturer in New Testament at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.