Focussing on three first- and early-second-century documents (the Shepherd of Hermas, 1 Clement and the Ignatian epistles), this work contributes to a growing body of literature concerned with the social setting of early Christianity. Maier argues that the development of structures of leadership in the early Christian church is best accounted for by reference to the hospitality, patronage, and leadership of wealthy hosts who invited local Christian groups to meet in their homes. Sociological models and types are employed to analyze the tensions that arose from excesses of patronage and leadership by the well-to-do. Recognizing the socio-economic setting of these conflicts corrects the interpretation of early Christian conflicts over the ministry as purely theological and doctrinali.

This one-of-a-kind reference volume provides focused study on the often-neglected portions of the New Testament: Acts, Hebrews, the General Epistles, and Revelation. Expert contributors present more information than any other single work—dealing exclusively with the theology, literature, background, and scholarship of the later New Testament and the apostolic church.

Odd Magne Bakke presents the first in-depth study of 1 Clement from the standpoint of the letter's rhetoric. He bases his methodological analysis on tools from the Graeco-Roman rhetorical tradition, using both the handbooks as well as actual speeches and letters. These are supplemented by tools from modern text linguistics, which the author uses to do a compositional analysis of the letter, and by the tools of modern semantics, used to establish the language of concord in 1 Clement which it has in common with other relevant ancient literature. The author's approach constitutes a fresh reading of 1 Clement and provides new suggestions on several important issues in the immense research on the letter. He demonstrates both the thematic and argumentative unity of the letter. Its macro-structure reflects the conventional parts of the dispositio of ancient rhetoric ( exordium, narratio, probatio, peroratio ). Also, the sub-texts on different levels of these parts are shown to be integrated into and to serve Clement's overall argument for re-establishing concord and peace in the Corinthian church. Odd Magne Bakke questions the traditional views that the conflict in this church was between 'spirit' and 'office' or was a matter of 'doctrine'. He argues that Clement primarily regarded it as a conflict between people of different socio-economic statuses in which a struggle for honor appeared to be an important aspect.

Through a study of the church of Santa Prassede, Mary M. Schaefer offers a compelling examination of the ''golden ages'' for women active in ecclesial ministries, critically measuring feminist claims and providing evidence contrary to the official Roman position that women have never been ordained in the Catholic Church. The ninth-century church of Santa Prassede has been studied intensively in recent years, yet no scholar has yet recognized the significance of the balanced male and female imagery: both men and women disciples, Peter and Paul as family friends, Praxedes and her sister as house church leaders in the post-apostolic period assisted by bishop Pius I, and Pope Paschal's mother Theodora episcopa, for example. Praxedes' identification as ''presbytera'' by a Roman priest-historian in 1655 and by the Benedictine prior of the church in 1725 prompts analysis of women's ordination rites in churches of East and West. Santa Prassede preserves one of the largest intact programs of church decoration in Rome up to 1200. Schaefer investigates its scriptural and liturgical sources, and, in turn, reexamines its foundation myth. With the story of the church, Schaefer provides a detailed study of women in pastoral office (especially diaconas, presbyteras, and episcopal abbesses) from the first through twelfth centuries in the West. Women in Pastoral Office also shows how the liturgy as well as the vita of Praxedes and her sister Pudentiana (whose fourth century church is located down the hill) shaped this outstanding commission of the builder, Pope Paschal I (817-824).

In this study, Justin Buol analyzes the writings connected with the deaths of Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, and Pothinus of Lyons in light of earlier accounts of the noble deaths of military, political, and religious leaders from Greco-Roman literature and the Bible, which record benefits accruing to a group on account of its leader's death. The author argues that the accounts of these three bishops' martyrdoms draw upon those prior models in order to portray the bishops as dying to unite, protect, and strengthen the Church, oppose false teaching and apostasy, and solidify the teaching role of the episcopal office. Finally, by providing a foundation for Irenaeus to argue for apostolic succession, these second-century bishop martyrs also help form a lasting contribution to the growth of episcopal power.

The "conversations" in this collection open by challenging ideas that have become standard and subject them to critical re-examination. The central thread of all these essays is a reflection on the processes of reading and theologizing. Among the contributors to this volume are David E. Aune, Jouette Bassler, Daniel Boyarin, Neil Elliott, Victor Paul Furnish, Lloyd Gaston, Steven J. Kraftchick, Robert C. Morgan, J. Andrew Overman, Mark Reasoner, Peter Richardson, and Robin Scroggs. Juanita Garciagodoy and David H. Hopper offer appreciations of Calvin Roetzel as a teacher and colleague.

The Scriptures of Israel in Jewish and Christian Tradition is a collection of studies in honour of Professor Maarten J.J. Menken (Tilburg) and addresses questions of textual form, Jewish and Christian hermeneutics and notions of authority and inspiration.