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The designs of synagogues and churches are acknowledged to be very alike. But the designers' procedure was confidential, and so far standard explanations have been unsatisfactory. A synagogue should express heavenly values with earthly materials. This combination was in fact expressed in numbers, for, as Plato said, they linked heaven and earth. Scripture described both the Jewish Tabernacle and Temple with a wealth of numbers. Proportions based on these numbers were used to design synagogues. Only a few Jewish documents survive, but they reveal a symbolism, which Christians sometimes repeat. The synagogue sanctuary was designed to contain the 'Holy Ark', and the mosaic floors reveal the point 'Before the Ark' for the prayers and readings. These places faced each other, with the idea that God was facing his people. The synagogue was seen as facing heaven and in church buildings Christians repeated the same proportions. This was a joint tradition among Jews and Christians. It was easy to design, was carried out secretly and accurately, and - without a computer - was extremely hard to unravel. This book, for the first time, does just that.
This important work challenges an entrenched scholarly consensus, that at the beginning it was inspired leaders - not ordained officers - who dominated the church. James Burtchaell illustrates that the traditional argument on behalf of clerical authority had read history backwards, and found the apostles to be the first bishops. In this study, Burtchaell reads history forwards, and demonstrates that first century Jews knew only one form of community organization, that of the synagogue. The three-level structure of offices in the synagogue - president, elders, and assistant - emerges, in the author's estimation, as the most plausible antecedent for the Christian offices which stand forth clearly in the second century. Burtchaell's conclusion is that ordained office is a foundational element in Christianity, but that, while the officers presided from the first, they rarely led. Thus, while Jesus' brother James presided as the ordained chief of the mother church in Jerusalem, it was Peter - Jesus' inspired veteran disciple - whose voice carried most authority. This revisionist historical account of Christian origins creatively subverts the established positions on church order, and thus opens up the arguments to new and larger conclusions.
Preface to the new edition -- Understanding the divine liturgy. Development of Christian worship in the Bible -- Worship in the early church -- Revelation and worship -- The royal priesthood -- Heavenly worship -- A journey through the liturgy. The interior of an Orthodox church -- The preparation service -- The liturgy of the word -- The liturgy of the Eucharist -- The Great Anaphora -- The Holy Communion -- The Thanksgiving -- Conclusion. A call to worship.
This volume gathers for the first time all of the primary source material on the early synagogues up through the Second Century C. E. Each entry contains bibliographic citations and interpretative comments. An Introduction frames the current state of synagogue research, while extensive indices allow for easy location of specific allusions.
Lots of churches around the world are struggling to survive. Maybe instead they should follow Jesus into death so that they can rise again. I suggest several things that churches can do to follow Jesus into the world. These ways allow us to BE the church rather than just attend church.
Annotation The synagogue was one of the most central and revolutionary institutions of ancient Judaism leaving an indelible mark on Christianity and Islam as well. This commanding book provides an in-depth and comprehensive history of the synagogue from the Hellenistic period to the end of late antiquity. Drawing exhaustively on archeological evidence and on such literary sources as rabbinic material, the New Testament, Jewish writings of the Second Temple period, and Christian and pagan works, Lee Levine traces the development of the synagogue from what was essentially a communal institution to one which came to embody a distinctively religious profile. Exploring its history in the Greco-Roman and Byzantine periods in both Palestine and the Diaspora, he describes the synagogue's basic features: its physical remains; its role in the community; its leadership; the roles of rabbis, Patriarchs, women, and priests in its operation; its liturgy; and its art. What emerges is a fascinating mosaic of a dynamic institution that succeeded in integrating patterns of social and religious behavior from the contemporary non-Jewish society while maintaining a distinctively Jewish character.