Images of the Church in the New Testament (The New Testament Library)

First published in 1960, Paul Minear's classic work identifies and explicates ninety-six images for the church found in the New Testament. Comprehensive and accessibly written, it has been used in seminary classes for over thirty years. Its range of reach and incredibly rich discussions of the many images and metaphors make this book a splendid resource for students and pastors. The New Testament Library offers authoritative commentary on every book and major aspect of the New Testament, as well as classic volumes of scholarship. The commentaries in this series provide fresh translations based on the best available ancient manuscripts, offer critical portrayals of the historical world in which the books were created, pay careful attention to their literary design, and present a theologically perceptive exposition of the text.

First published in 1960, Paul Minear's classic work identifies and explicates ninety-six images for the church found in the New Testament. Comprehensive and accessibly written, it has been used in seminary classes for over thirty years. Its range of reach and incredibly rich discussions of the many images and metaphors make this book a splendid resource for students and pastors.

The New Testament Library offers authoritative commentary on every book and major aspect of the New Testament, as well as classic volumes of scholarship. The commentaries in this series provide fresh translations based on the best available ancient manuscripts, offer critical portrayals of the historical world in which the books were created, pay careful attention to their literary design, and present a theologically perceptive exposition of the text.

"In 1960, when Images of the Church in the New Testament was first published, there was nothing quite like it. Even forty years later, it remains unparalleled, much less surpassed. Among those conversant with English-speaking biblical scholarship, it still springs immediately to mind in discussions of ecclesiology - the study of the church. Unlike its nearest kin thematically and in influence, Avery Dulles' Models of the Church (1874, 1987), Images of the Church is not a contribution to doctrinal systematics. It is, instead, an exercise in the replenishment of theological imagination: a comprehensive study of nearly 100 metaphors or analogies for the church in the New Testament. This is no mere register or dry compendium of tropes."--Jacket EVERY READER is entitled to know at the very outset the central objective of this study.