Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #350854 in Books
• Published on: 1994-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Paul's Idea of Community: The Early House Churches...
Banks writes with the balance and insight having been a seminary professor and a coal-face participator in grass-roots expressions of House churches.
The book combines scholarly knowledge with ready accessibility for the ordinary reader in a way that drives right into the relevant areas the churches are re-examining in our day.

The early chapters examine the nature of the churches in their historical setting as house-churches...what would have happened, how large they were etc.
Crucially he examines what Paul did and did not mean by the word "ekklesia" (church/group)and gives us some fascinating observations/insights into how Paul employs the word "Church" and "churches". Paul, it would seem, would have been somewhat confused by our ideas of national or regional churches who aren't real gathering groups but quite at home with language about the Church but "in Christ" "in the heavenly places" rather than an organisation with a central HQ.
Banks is diligent in his exploration of Paul's metaphors for church (eg family, body etc) and tries to rescue some of these from misconceptions.
Later chapters explore ministry within the churches and the relationship Paul and his mission (ergon / work) had with the churches (ekklesia) he planted. Banks gives an excellent tour of how Paul's authority was actually worked out and how he saw the churches with regard to this. All vital for those of us seeking to get a better theoretical ecclesiology on which to build in reality.
There is plenty of comparison with the culture and backround / ideas of the time which is vital for seeing to what extent Paul's ideas were assimilation or innovation / adaptation.

If you are fed up with the trendy and faddish EC type books that seem to abound, you will enjoy this. It will change your thinking because of its grounding in the apostle's thinking. If it were a meal I would describe it as a hearty and wholesome Sunday lunch---you won't want to run around immediately after but you'll feel satisfied and in need of digesting its richness---maybe with friends over coffee?