Corpus-Paul

[Matthew Baldwin <baldwin AT apocryphum.com>]

Dear Daniel: 

The letters of Ignatius (among the Apostolic Fathers) are crucial early
evidence for the development of the ideology of the supreme bishop.

But I think it is important to look at the development of ecclesiastical
structures of authority in the context of debates over doctrine and
practice, and so some study of the history of _heresy_ is mandatory if you
are going to figure out this issue.  Ignatius, for instance, is struggling
against rivals who espouse docetic Christological ideas, and the office of
the bishop is his primary weapon.

Depending on how advanced a reader you are, there are many useful books
dealing with these and related subjects.  Three that come to mind off the
top of my head include:  Gerd Lüdemann's book _Heretics_ ; the classic study
_Orthodoxy and Heresy_ by Bauer;  and the _History of Primitive
Christianity_ by Conzelmann.

History books by Frend, including his massive _The Rise of Christianity_,
contain solid, basic, accessible (but like everything else, not uncontested)
narratives of the rise of ecclesiastic authority.

Matthew Baldwin, Ph.D.
Mars Hill College
Mars Hill, NC



> What we're looking for are some good historical (and possibly also
> theological) sources about the development of eccelsiastical authority
> in the first and early second centuries. I know that primary sources
> from this time are limited, but the Pauline epistles would obviously be
> an important source for such a study, which is why I was hoping I could
> find help on this list.