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The Anabaptists: The Forgotten Legacy – Part III

The question that I want to sketch in this essay is one that concerns me greatly. One of the greatest threats to Christianity is Christendom. Christendom is an effort of the human race to abolish true Christianity. It does not attempt to do this overtly but under the pretext that it is genuine Christianity....

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The Fullness of Christ: J.H. Yoder – Part II

Posted by Radical Resurgence | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 12-01-2012

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2.   Religion In The Old Testament.

The priesthood of Israel takes over most of the traits of the general religionist. The priest is qualified by heredity and initiation.  He presides over celebrations of the annual cycle and blesses the king.

In sum, in Israel the function of the religionist is present, accepted, used, but it is also filled with new meaning, relativised in value, and removed from the centre.

3.    The Vocabulary of Ministry In The New Testament.

 If we come to the N.T. with this “professional religionist” view of  ministry, asking, “What is said on this subject?” then we can add together some things which Paul said about himself as apostle, some things he wrote to Timothy and Titus about themselves, some other things he wrote  to them about bishops and deacons, some things Acts reports about the leaders in Jerusalem and Antioch, salt the mixture with some reminscences from the O.T, and come up with quite an impressive package as the “Biblical View of Ministry”.  But if we ask whether any of the N.T. literature makes the assumptions listed above: