Ministry in the Early Church

Theology on the Web helps over 2.5 million people every year to find high quality theological resources that will help to equip them to serve God and to know Him better (2 Timothy 2:15). Like other websites that provide free services, it is dependent on donations to enable it to grow and develop and only 0.004% of visitors currently do so. If you would like to support this site, please use one of the options to the right of this message.

Primary Sources

	Apostolic Constitutions 3.20; 8.3-5, 16-28.
	Augustine, Against the Letter of Parmenides 2.13.28ff.
	Augustine, On Baptism Against the Donastists 1.1.2.
	Augustine, On the Good of Marriage 24 (32).
	Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition 2-3; 8-15;
	H.J. Schroeder, Disciplinary Decrees of the General Councils: Text, Translation, and Commentary. St. Louis & London: Herder, 1937.
	Serapion, Prayerbook 12-14.
	Testament of Our Lord 1.21, 30, 38.

Secondary Sources

	James Tunstead Burtchaell, From Synagogue to Church: Public services and offices in thr earliest Chrsitian communities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. pp. xviii + 375.
	R.Alistair Campbell, The Elders: Seniority within Earliest Christianity. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1994. Hbk. ISBN: 0567097021. pp.328.
	Hans von Campenhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power in the Church of the First Three Centuries. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997. Hbk. ISBN: 1565632729. pp.316.
	P.R. Coleman, The Roman State and the Christian Church: A Collection of Legal Documents to A.D. 535, 3 Vols. London: SPCK, 1966.
	Yves Maries Joseph Congar, Lay People in the Church: A Study for a Theology of the Laity. Westminster: Newman, 1957. Revised ed., Christian Classics, 1985. Pbk. ISBN: 0870611143. pp.518.
	G. Dix, "The Ministry of the Early Church," K.E. Kirk, ed. The Apostolic Ministry, 2nd edn. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1957. pp.183-303.
	A. Ehrhardt, "Jewish and Christian Ordination," Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. Vol. 5 (1954): 125-138.
	Alexandre Faivre, The Emergence of the Laity in the Early Church. David Smith, translator. New York: / Mahwah: Paulist, 1990. Pbk. ISBN: 0809131234. pp. iii + 242.
	Everett Ferguson. "Eusebius and Orfination," Journal of Ecclesiastical History 13 (1962): 139-l44.
	Everett Ferguson, "Church Order in the Sub-Apostolic Period: A Survey of Interpretations," Restoration Quarterly 11 (1968): 225-248.
	Everett Ferguson, Early Christians Speak, 3rd edn. Abilene: ACU, 1987. Pbk. ISBN: 0891120459. pp.167-179.
	Everett Ferguson, "Ordination in the Ancient Church, 1-4," Restoration Quarterly, Vol. 4 (1960): 117-138.
	Everett Ferguson, "Ordination in the Ancient Church, 1-4," Restoration Quarterly, Vol. 5 (1961): 17-32, 67-82, 130-146.
	Everett Ferguson, "Eusebius and Ordination," Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 13 (1962): 139-144.
	Everett Ferguson, "Jewish and Christian Ordination," Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 56 (1963): 13-19.
	Everett Ferguson, "Attitudes to Schism at the Council of Nicaea," Schism, Heresy, and Religious Protest. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972. pp.57-63.
	Everett Ferguson, "Selection and Installation to Office in Roman, Greek, Jewish and Christian Antiquity," Theologische Zeitschrift, Vol. 30 (1974): 273-284.
	David C. Ford, "The Interrelationship of Clergy and Laity within the Church According to St. John of Chrysostom," St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 36.4 (1992): 329-353.
	W.H.Frere, Early Forms of Ordination," H.B. Swete, ed. Essays on the Early History of the Church and the Ministry. London: Macmillan, 1918.
	John Fuellenbach, Ecclesiastical Office and the Primacy of Rome. An Evaluation of Recent Theological Discussion of First Clement. The Catholic University of the America Studies in Christian Antiquity 20. Washington, DC: University of America Press, 1980. Hbk. ISBN: 0813205514. pp. ix + 278.
	J.L. Garrett, "The Priesthood of All Christians: From Cyprian to John Chrysostom," Southwestern Journal of Theology 30.2 (1988): 22-33.
	S.L. Greenslade, "The Unit of Pastoral Care in the Early Church," G.J. Cuming, ed. Studies in Church History, Vol. 2. London: Nelson, 1965. pp.102-118.
	P.-M. Gy, "Notes on the Early Terminology of Christian Priesthood," The Sacrament of Holy Orders. London & Collegeville: Liturgical, 1962. pp.98-115.
	P.-M. Gy, "Ancient Ordination Prayers," Studia Liturgica, Vol.13 (1979): 70-93.
	Richard P.C. Hanson, Christian Priesthood Examined. Guildford/London: Lutterworth Press, 2000. Hbk. ISBN: 0718824008. pp.128.
	Richard P.C. Hanson, "Office and the Concept of Office in the Early Church," in Studies in Christian Antiquity. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1985. Hbk. ISBN: 0567093638. pp.117-143.
	Stanley Samuel Harakas, "Resurrection and Ethics in Chrysostom," Ex Auditu 9 (1993): 77-95.
	E.R. Hardy, "The Decline and Fall of the Confessor-Presbyter," in Studia Patristica XV. Elizabeth A. Livingstone, ed. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1984. pp.221-225.
	Adolf von Harnack, The Constitution and Law of the Church in the First Two Centuries. London: Norgate and Williams, 1910.
	Edwin Hatch [1835-1889], The Organisation of the Early Christian Churches. Eight Lectures Delivered before the Universty of Oxford,in the Year 1880. On the Foundation of the late Rev. John Bampton, M.A., Canon of Salisbury. London: Rivingtons, 1881. pp.xxviii + 216. pdf [This material is in the Public Domain]
	James Heron [1836-1918], The Church of the Sub-Apostolic Age. Its Life, Worship, and Organisation, in the Light of "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles". London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1888. Hbk. pp.300. pdf [This material is in the Public Domain]
	E. Glenn Hinson, "Pastoral Authority and the Priesthood of Believers from Cyprian to Calvin," Faith and Mission 7.1 (1989): 6-23.
	T.G. Jalland, The Origin and Evolution of the Christian Church. London / New York: Hutchinson, 1950. pp.200.
	A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 2 Vols.. John Hopkins University Press, 1986. Pbk. ISBN: 0801832853. pp.1546.
	Joseph T. Lienhard, Ministry. Wilmington: Glazier, 1994. Pbk. ISBN: 0814653200. pp.183.
	J.B. Lightfoot, "The Christian Ministry," Saint Paul's Epistle to the Philippians. Crossway Books, 1994. Pbk. ISBN: 1856841014. pp.181-269.
	Thomas Martin Lindsay, The Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1902. pdf
	T.W. Manson, The Church's Ministry. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1948. pp.112.
	W. Harold Mare, "Church functionaries: the witness in the literature and archaeology of the New Testament and church periods," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 13.4 (Fall 1970): 229-239. pdf
	Kenan B. Osborne, Priesthood: A History of the Ordained Ministry in the Roman Catholic Church. New York / Mahwah: Paulist, 1988. pp. vii + 388.
	H.B. Porter, Jr. The Ordination Papers of the Ancient Western Churches. London: SPCK, 1967.
	David Rankin, "Tertullian's consistency of thought on ministry," Studia Patristica 21 (1989): 271-76.
	B. Reiche, "The Constitution of the Primitive Church in the Light of Jewish Documents," K. Stendahl, ed. The Scrolls and the New Testament. New York: Harper, 1957.
	Leopold Sabourin, Early Catholicism and Ministries: Bibliographical Commentary. Burlington, Ontario: Trinity, 1989. pp.126.
	Jeffrey G. Sobosan, "The Role of the Presbyter: An Investigation into the Adversus Haereses of Saint Irenaeus," Scottish Journal of Theology 27.2 (1974): 129-146.
	Burnett Hillman Streeter, The Primitive Church, Studied with Special Reference to the Origins of the Christian Ministry. London: Macmillan, 1929. pp. xiv + 323.
	B.H. Streeter, The Primitive Church Studied with Special Reference to the Origins of the Christian Ministry. The Hewitt Lectures, 1928. London: MacMillan & Co., Ltd., 1930. Hbk. pp.312. pdf [This material is in the Public Domain]
	H.B. Swete, ed. Essays on the Early History of the Church and Ministry, 2nd edn. London: Macmillan, 1921. pp. xxxvi + 446.
	G.H. Williams, "The Ministry in the Later Patristic Period," and "The Ministry in the Later Patristic Period," H.R. Niebuhr & D.D. Williams, eds The Ministry in Historical Perspectives. New York: Harper, 1956. pp.27-81.