This article treats ordained ministries in the historic church traditions, East and West, which engage the ecumenical conversations, explorations, and emerging consensus on church-dividing issues on Christian ministry. The topics in this article include the development of structures of orda...
The terms ‘deaconess’ and ‘deacon’ refer to an office of service in the church that exists today and dates back to the first century. The terms themselves are derived from the Greek verb, diakonein, and its cognate nouns diakonos and diakonia. Diakonein meant to serve or to minister. The no...
The theme of ‘church’ in the New Testament raises four central questions, the answers to which are essential for Christian theology. The questions are there for all, because of the text; but the answers are of different importance, due to the different traditions: (1) what is the relationsh...