A study of the early texts in ordination to the offices of greatest antiquity in the Christian churches of East and West. These offices include bishop, presbyter, deacon, deaconess, subdeacon, acolyte and reader. The author introduces the primary sources of the texts and outlines the nuclear structure of the ordination ritual and comments on the prayers and ceremonies proper to each order. Then in the second part of the book, he offers English translations of the texts available.

Paul Bradshaw presents the early practice of ordination in both East and West by introducing the reader to the principal primary sources, then outlining the nuclear structure of the ordination ritual.

A unique situation exists in the Nordic countries where there is a Lutheran majority living in ecumenical cooperation with other churches and ecclesiastical communities. This book attempts to shed light on what the churches have discovered they hold in common and on areas where they recognise that there are divergencies between them, both in relation to ordination and ministry, and in particular to the theology and terminology of ordination. The book brings together the research and insights of 23 researchers from all the Nordic countries studying more than 200 different kinds of 'ordination' rites from the Orthodox and Roman Catholic as well as Lutheran and non-Lutheran protestant traditions. After an introduction to the churches in the Nordic countries, the book presents 19 case studies from the Nordic countries. The last part includes some general ecumenical and liturgical perspectives on ordination and rites presented by international researchers.

"A Pueblo book."Includes index. Includes bibliographical references and index. Table of Contents: Historical and typological background -- Ministry in the earliest Christian communities -- Ministry and ordination in the third and fourth centuries -- Early ordination rites -- Ordination rites in the churches of the East -- Ordination rites in the medieval West -- The theology of ordination in the Middle Ages -- Orders and ministry in the churches of the Reformation -- The Roman Catholic Church from the Council of Trent to the present -- Other modern ordination rites.

This study of bishops, presbyters, and deacons identifies four conceptualizations of the Church influencing the relationship between ordained ministry and the Church: a monarchical and hierarchical conceptualization; a eucharistic, collegial model representing the communion of particular churches; the priest, prophet, and king motif that structures the concept of the Church as the people of God; and a theology of the Church as a sacrament of Christ and ordained ministry as a sacrament of the Church. It examines the 1990 ordination rites and discusses the sacramentality of episcopal ordination, the identity of the presbyterate, and questions concerning the diaconate.

"This study provides the historical and liturgical foundations for the election of bishops"--Provided by publisher.

This book examines the theological foundations of a collaborative approach to Christian ministry. The discovery that Christians are members 'one of another' creates energy and joy in ministry and empowers the Church in an age of mission.Outlining the present challenges for ministry, Stephen Pickard offers an historical perspective on ministry over the last century; develops a theory of collaborative ministry based on a dialogue between theology and science; and explores some implications of collaborative ministry for lay and ordained people of the Church.This book breaks new ground in its theory of collaborative ministry through a dialogue with the sciences of emergence. It also offers fresh insights on important texts in ministry; relationships between Christology, pneumatology and ministry; a relational ontology of ministry; episcopacy, ecumenism, ordination vows and wisdom for team ministry.