The Go-Between: Augustine on Deacons

Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-90-04-36077-8
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 6, 172 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 363 g

Reihe: Brill's Studies in Catholic Theology

In recent and contemporary scholarship, the deacon as a leader in the Early Church is an often-neglected subject. This book focuses on the roles and functions of the deacon in Augustine’s literary output. The author’s approach is detailed and appropriately cautious and is always attentive to the text. He analyses Augustine’s way of commenting on deacons and how the bishop of Hippo wrote about them, as well as his manner of preaching on saints and martyrs who were deacons. The book thus provides a new perspective on the early deacons who were not social workers, but go-betweens or intermediaries between the bishop and his flock, between the Scriptures and daily life, and between Church and society. He emphasises in particular how deacons were epistle bearers responsible for the world wide web of Early Christianity.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Koet, Bart

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Geschichte der Theologie, Einzelne Theologen
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Katholizismus, Römisch-Katholische Kirche
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte Frühes Christentum, Patristik, Christliche Archäologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

Preface

List of Abbreviations

1

Introduction

2 The Origin of the Word Diakonos, Classical and Biblical Backgrounds

2.1 Introduction

2.2 The Diakon Stem in Plato, Esther, Flavius Josephus, and the Gospel of John

2.3 Conclusions

3 The Diaconate in the Ancient Church: What is the Origin of the Term ‘Deacon’?

3.1 The Use of Diakonos as a Function in the Community in the New Testament and Other Very Early Christian Literature

3.2 Twofold Ministry in the Earliest Post-New Testament Literature

3.3 The Diaconate in Early ‘Church Orders’

3.4 The Decline of the Diaconate in the West

4 Augustine, His Ecclesiastical Career, and His View on Ministries

4.1 Augustine’s Life and Ecclesiastical Career

4.2 Literature on Ministry According to Augustine

4.3 Research Question and Initial Orientation

4.4 Some Comments Regarding the Research

5 The Deacon as Messenger

5.1 Letters in Antiquity

5.2 Deacons as Augustine’s ‘Messengers’

5.3 What More Can We Learn about Deacons from Augustine’s Letters?

5.4 Conclusions

6 The Deacon as Evangelist and Preacher

6.1 The Deacon in the Liturgy

6.2 The Deacon as Preacher

6.3 De Haeresibusand De catechizandis Rudibus: Advice to Deacons on Their Task of Initiation

6.4 Conclusions

7 Augustine and the Holy Deacons of the Early Church

7.1 Saint Stephen

7.2 Saint Lawrence

7.3 Saint Vincent

7.4 Bishop Fructuosus and His Deacons (s. 273)

7.5 Philip, One of the ‘Seven’

7.6 Conclusions

8 Conclusions

8.1 The Ministry is a Shared Ministry: Deacons as Co-operators

8.2 The Deacon as an Agent of Communication

8.3 Regional Differences, Also among Deacons

Epilogue: What does this Research Imply for the Diaconate in the Twenty-First Century?

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Bart J. Koet, Ph.D (1989), Tilburg School of Catholic Theology (Netherlands) is Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature. He has published on the relation between the interpretation of Scripture and the interpretation of dreams. For the last ten years he has worked also on leadership in the Early Church.