A book which must rank among the significant examinations of the subject not only for New Testament studies, but in the current ecumenical debate.
The author's method, after a very unusual and discriminating discussion of the authority of scripture for the ordering of the church is, to begin with, analytical. He considers Jesus' conception of the church, which he finds obscure enough, but at least it was an open fellowship, repudiating hierarchy, and following Jesus in self-renunciation for the world, then that of the primitive community (including such disparate representatives as the early Jerusalem church, that of Matthew and the Pastorals), then the Pauline, Johannine and sub-apostolic conceptions of the church. In the second part of the book he synthesizes his findings, and faces up to such problems as apostolic succession, charismatic and non-charismatic ministry, church service, and office ...