Bishop Lists : : Formation of Apostolic Succession of Bishops in Ecclesiastical Crises / / Robert Lee Williams.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Gorgias Press Backlist eBook-Package 2001-2015
• VerfasserIn: Williams, Robert Lee,
• Place / Publishing House: Piscataway, NJ : : Gorgias Press, , [2014]; ©2014
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Language: English
• Series: Gorgias Studies in Early Christianity and Patristics
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (282 p.)

Early lists of bishops, identified by Walter Bauer as "literary propaganda," mark critical points in the development of the doctrine of the apostolic succession of bishops. This study delves into the political struggles surrounding the lists and the doctrine they served to define. Ecclesiastical politics in each case reflects the threat to the bishop's authority and clarifies the meaning of apostolic succession in the Church's development. This social history approach, examining the function of the literature within its historical circumstances, reveals how theology developed from politics. The development is as gripping politically as it is illuminating theologically.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Contents -- Introduction -- Part 1. Literary Background: Apologetic in the Hellenistic World -- Chapter 1. Greek and Roman Successions -- Chapter 2. Jewish Successions -- Part 2. Formative Crises: Bishop and Succession in Earliest Christianity -- Chapter 3. New Testament -- Chapter 4. Ignatius and 1 Clement -- Part 3. Stage 1: Anti-Heretical Uses -- Chapter 5. Hegesippus -- Chapter 6. Irenaeus -- Part 4. Stage 2: Anti-Schismatic Uses -- Chapter 7. Julius Africanus -- Chapter 8. Hippolytus -- Part 5. Stage 3: Apologetic and Encouragement -- Chapter 9. Eusebius, 1. The Chronicle -- Chapter 10. Eusebius, 2. The Ecclesiastical History -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Indices