Customer Reviews

The Churches The Apostles Left Behind

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

THE CHURCHES THE APOSTLES LEFT BEHIND is no longer a new volume, and there has been a great deal of research in the early Church since the publication of this book. None the less, I often find myself going back to this gem of a resource whenever I am trying to find something interesting to present about the various Churches founded by the Apostles. The communities that Brown discusses are those of Paul, both from his letters and the Lucan communities often associated with Paul, Peter, John, and Matthew. Brown looks at these major communities from the traditional point of view, but includes current scholarship at the time of the book's publication as well. While Brown's Catholic perspective is evident in much of his writing, he was asked as a Catholic to address an ecumenical audience, so the book demonstrates what unites Christianity, namely a common early history, rather than what divides us today.

During his lifetime, Raymond Brown was a Sulpician priest involved in the training of people for ministry. This book reflects his pastoral concern. Actually, many of the chapters were presented as lectures for people involved in ministry.

In the manner of a great scholar, Raymond E. Brown normally multiplies arguments built upward from his unusual command of a great array of facts. A hint of that tendency emerges in The Churches the Apostles Left Behind. Fr. Brown, a Roman Catholic priest, asks how the churches of the late first century survived the trauma of the deaths of the originary apostles. Using paradigms that emerge from reading the Pauline pastoral epistles, Colossians/Ephesians, Luke/Acts, First Peter, the Gospel of John, the Johannine epistles, and the Gospel of Matthew, Brown presents models of church laitant in the communities of the New Testament documents. Though his book traces an emergent ecclesiology in the Christian canon, it intends to provide an ecumenical church of the present age lessons in just how we might be church in the present age. Rather than a teacher of dusty history, Fr. Brown here serves as a pastor for the church of flesh and blood. The Churches the Apostles Left Behind presents a different kind of read for Fr. Brown's students.

The genesis of Christianity from the death of the apostles to the sub-apostolic communities is an interesting topic. The late Raymond Brown wrote three books specifically devoted to this issue: THE CHURCHES THE APOSTLES LEFT BEHIND, ANTIOCH AND ROME (with John P. Meier) and THE COMMUNITY OF THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. Taken as a whole, these three discuss the trajectory of early Christian history from the time of the apostles to the end of the 1st century (or slightly after). It should be noted that Brown believes that most of the works of the New Testament were written during the final third of the century.

The CHURCHES THE APOSTLES LEFT BEHIND is probably the best place to start. The contents of the book were given as lectures in 1980 and are easier to read. He deals with seven movements: the Pastoral Epistles, Colossians/Ephesians, Luke/Acts, I Peter, Fourth Gospel, the Epistles of John, and Matthew.

Regardless of one's views of the authorship and dates of the books of the New Testament, there is no doubt that the writers were dealing with different situations and, at least in some respects, had different theologies. While one may try to harmonize the various strands, certain tensions remain. For example, the Johannine literature mentions the church only a few times, and only then in reference to the local church. Colossians/Ephesians make reference to the universal church. The Pastorals concern the teaching church. And, as Brown notes, one wonders if Paul could have met the requirements for a presbyter-bishop as set forth in the Pastorals given his fiery temper.

These books share the strengths and weaknesses of Brown's approach. They are well written and informative, but too dismissive of those he disagrees with.

As with *The Community of the Beloved Disciple,* this volume avoids the pitfalls of being either too simplistic or just over one's head. In it, Brown offers an ingenious look at the various communities of the Christian Testament and describes their differences.

For my particular tastes, Brown is sometimes too quick to accept the face value of some early traditions concerning the Apostles. But this slight weakness is easily overcome by his scholarship, his open attitude and his readability. This volume is very helpful and will open the eyes of its readers to the fact that there has not been only one ecclesiology is Christianity, but many.

Raymond Brown's investigation into the Apostolic communities of the early Church provides a solid biblical foundation for studies of the Church. It offers a mature view of the scripture which attests to these communities. While remaining orthodox, Brown does not appeal to less-informed views of the Bible. Instead, he views the testimony of the New Testament writers within their realistic historical contexts. It is from his view of these contexts that his work derives most of its strength.

Brown looks at each book (or set of books) that he investigates as an example which addresses the strengths and weaknesses of the community which caused the writing to come into effect. He realizes that the work of the New Testament is one which is an organic whole, no one work being a microcosm of the message of the New Covenant. By starting from this perspective, Brown is able to explain the strengths and weaknesses of each community and how each is addressed in the works associated with them. This gives a mature view of how scripture informs us, as a whole, not as isolated parts.

In the study of ecclesiology, it can become very tempting to approach the views of the Church from a solely historical perspective, without taking reflection to scripture. Brown's book gives a good starting background to investigating ecclesiology as a whole, scriptural and traditional.

This book primarily asks the question, "How did the first century churches survive once the most prominent apostles (i.e. Paul, Peter, James) died?" In answering this question, Brown dispels the myth that early Christianity was homogeneous and forwards the view that each church community nuanced their theology and praxis to accommodate their context. Specifically, Brown attempts to identify the single element which enabled each church to survive.

Brown's book has much that is praiseworthy. First, it adds significantly towards understanding the various contexts the churches found themselves in during the first century. Second, Brown's strengths and weaknesses of each survival motif are helpful in reminding us that no single church model is perfect. Third, Brown's applications for the modern church may aid ecumenical conversations.

My main criticism of Brown's book is the rigidity with which he confines each church community to one survival theme. At times, this forces Brown to over-generalize in connecting certain New Testament documents. For instance, in addressing Colossians/Ephesians, Brown sees the survival motif to be the church as the body of Christ to be dearly loved yet love is much more prominent in Ephesians than in Colossians. At other times, Brown betrays his own methodology as he identifies two survival motifs for the church community associated with John (although he creates two separate chapters - one for the Gospel of John, one for the Epistles of John - to avoid the appearance of such a reality). This weakness notwithstanding, Brown ably reminds the church today that biblical study should always be attempted with the original context in mind and that theological ideas, taken from the Bible in isolation from other biblical insights, can lead to church failure and compromise.

Let me first clarify I am a practicing Catholic. Let me also confess I love Raymond Brown. I am always awed by his wisdom, erudition, and authority in everything he wrote. So don't expect this review to be objective.

Yet this book is not so much a detailed scholarly study of the early Christian communities. What Fr. Brown does here is identify the specific Christian communities discernible strictly from the NT, and clarify the issues which troubled every one of these communities. He then expounds the lessons and pitfalls pertinent to each community which can be gleaned from specific NT documents, and applies them to the modern Catholic Church. The reader can develop here a greater appreciation of why each of those documents was added to the NT canon and of why the NT must be taken as a whole: each individual Epistle or Gospel by itself cannot be the foundation of a church.

Moreover, the book is an affirmation of II Vatican Council as bringing the Catholic Church closer to the spirit expressed in those Epistles and Gospels. Implicitly and overtly, this book also expresses that it's the Catholic Church which best preserves the balance between all these lessons contained in the NT.

And all of this is fine with me.

The Bible is actually a library of many books and sometimes can be pretty intimidating to read. We have trouble finding what's important to read, let alone trying to read it all - and then try to put it all together. Luckily for us, many Priests/ Religious Leaders have done the work for you, and we can learn from them. One caveat - some 'teachers' of the faith have little or no formal training while others have 8 and 12 years of College degrees from trusted Universities and Seminaries. So you need to be aware of where you get your information from. For example, any Catholic Priest will have a minimum of 8 years of college including Seminary. Raymond Brown who has taught many years for Protestant Universities, is a well decorated Catholic Priest.

Getting to the book - You will be amazed and nod your head throughout the book as things start to make a lot more sense. You will need a basic understanding of the Bible - I would recommend reading 'The Bible Blueprint' by Joe Paprocki. Another good book by Raymond Brown that would be good to read first is 'An Adult Christ at Christmas'. Even after reading these and other good books, I still had a little trouble in the first chapter that overviewed all the New Testament letters, relating them to the travels of Paul and some other Apostles. I managed to skim through though, and the second chapter was much easier to follow with a much smaller focus.

At first, I new very little about the many letters of the New Testament, now I feel that my Spirit has grown tenfold through the wisdom I've gained by reading this book! It has great insights into the differences of many churches today.

I purchased this book as an "extra" for a class I am teaching. Good material.

Ray Brown is always good.

More than I had hoped for. Thorougly researched and presented in a straight forward manner.