Ordained Ministry in Free Church Perspective

Retrieving Robert Browne (C. 1550-1633) for Contemporary Ecclesiology
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-90-04-44071-5
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 41, 438 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 762 g

Reihe: Studies in Reformed Theology

In Ordained Ministry in Free Church Perspective Jan Martijn Abrahamse presents a constructive theology of ordained ministry by returning to the life and thought of the English Separatist Robert Browne (c. 1550-1633).

This study makes a substantial contribution not only by solving one of the most thorny problems in congregational ecclesiology, but also by recovering the legacy of this ecclesial pioneer. Through an in-depth analysis of Browne’s literature, the author provides a covenantal theology of ordained ministry in conversation with present-day authors Stanley Hauerwas and Kevin Vanhoozer.

Inspired by the emerging trend of ‘theology of retrieval’ Abrahamse offers a methodologically innovative way of doing systematic theology in a manner in which voices from the past can be made fruitful for today.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Abrahamse, Jan Martijn

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Protestantismus, evangelische und protestantische Kirchen Reformierte Kirchen, Calvinisten, presbyterianische Kirchen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

Abbreviations

1 Introduction: Challenges and Controversies

1.1 Ministering a Gathering

1.2 Restoring Our Story

1.3 Doing Systematic Theology by Retrieval

1.4 Historical Challenges

1.5 Systematic Challenges

1.6 Ordained Ministry in Browne’s Historiography

1.7 Ordained Ministry: Areas of Controversy

1.8 Outline and Prospect

Part 1: A Reconstruction of Robert Browne’s Theology of Ordained Ministry

2 Ordained Ministry in the Context of Sixteenth-Century Cambridge: A History of Controversy

2.1 Introduction

2.2 The Story of Robert Browne

2.3 Reformation and Nonconformity at Cambridge University

2.4 Ordained Ministry in the Context of Cambridge

2.5 Conclusions

3 Ordained Ministry in Browne’s Separatist Literature (1582–1585): A Theology of Covenant

3.1 Introduction

3.2 A Treatise of Reformation without Tarying for Anie (1582)

3.3 A Treatise vpon the 23. of Matthewe (1582)

3.4 A Booke Which Sheweth the Life and Manners (1582)

3.5 A True and Short Declaration (1583)

3.6 An Answere to Master Cartwright (1585)

3.7 Ordained Ministry in Robert Browne’s Ecclesiology: An Assessment

3.8 Conclusions

part 2: A Retrieval of Robert Browne’s Theology of Ordained Ministry

4 Controversy After Christendom: Ordained Ministry in the Ecclesiologies of Stanley Hauerwas and Kevin Vanhoozer

4.1 Introduction

4.2 The Problem of a Distinctive Ministry

4.3 The Suspicion Toward Authority

4.4 Ordination and the Fear of Clericalism

4.5 Systematic Directions and Browne’s Contributions

4.6 Conclusions

5 Reforming Controversy into Covenant: A Retrieval of Robert Browne’s Theology of Ordained Ministry

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Criterion 1: Communal Priesthood

5.3 Criterion 2: Permanent Accountability

5.4 Criterion 3: Interdependence

5.5 Conclusions

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jan Martijn Abrahamse, Ph.D. (2018), VU University Amsterdam, is Tutor in Systematic Theology and Ethics at Ede Christian University of Applied Sciences (CHE) and the Baptist Seminary (VU University) in the Netherlands.