prepare and submit a paper on critique of the churches the apostle left behind written by raymond edward brown.
Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on critique of the churches the apostle left behind written by raymond edward brown.
Apart from the book titled, “The Churches the Apostle Left Behind,” notable influential books by Brown include, “Community of the Beloved Disciple” and “ Antioch and Rome ” that he co-authored with John P. Meler. The book “The Churches the Apostle Left Behind” is a collection of the author’s sprunt lectures at the Union Theological Seminary from January 28-31 in 1980 covering Pauline heritage, the heritage of the beloved disciples and the heritage of the Jews and Gentiles.
Unlike his previous books that were primarily intended for the Catholic bishops and believers, “The Churches the Apostle Left Behind” the main audience was the Protestant scholars as was asserted by the author.In this book, Brown’s primary focus was to examine the nature and structure of the early church and the objectives that were set forth by the apostles. In particular, chapters 1 – 4 highlight the nature of the heritage that the apostles affiliated the church with during the sub-apostolic era in the New Testament.
In chapter 1, the author looks at the sub-apostolic, apostolic, post-apostolic era, and the wrongful assigning of authors of the gospels to the affiliated apostles. The author thus defines the apostolic age as the second one-third of the first century and the sub-apostolic era as the last one-third of the same century. He further relates the post-apostolic age to the period when Christians independently began authoring their individual authority in relation to the gospels as opposed to relating them with the apostles after their deaths.
The second chapter discusses the Pauline heritage in relation to the pastoral letters to Timothy and Titus. In his arguments, brown documents that the letters to Timothy and Titus underlined the pastoral role of Paul diverting from the previous missionary role. The apostle is more concerned with the structure of the church and preservation of the existing church believers than missionary work. The contents of the letters highly underscore .the relevance and significance of organized leadership and obedience to the authority of the church. .
