The Church Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Church - Essay Example St Peter and St Paul were perhaps the two most important influences on the Early Church after Jesus himself and on a par with Jesus’ brother James. The Early Church seemed to face major challenges as the Apostles died out. Despite these challenges the Early Churches would go on developing and would eventually allow Christianity to become the sole official religion of the Roman Empire some three centuries later, the same Roman Empire that had tried so hard to eliminate the Early Churches. Evidence about the Early Church was recorded not only in the New Testament especially the letters of St Paul, the letters of James, St Matthew’s gospel and the Book of Acts it was recorded by non-Christians within the Roman Empire. The writing of the four gospels of the New Testament was given greater urgency by the fact that the Apostles and those who had actually witnessed Jesus for themselves were dying through old age and persecution. Raymond Brown wrote The Church the Apostles Left Behind for various reasons. One reason was to examine and explain how the Early Church not only survived the death of the Apostles yet also how it would eventually prosper in the face of persecution and hostility. Brown concentrated on studying and writing about the seven main Early Churches such as those of the Corinthians and Rome. To be a Christian in the 1st century AD not only put people into a tiny minority it also put them at great personal risk, Jesus, St Peter and St Paul had all been executed and would be followed by many ordinary Christians. The strength of faith and bravery of many members of the Early Church had to be admired. The Early Church seemed to well endowed with the Holy Spirit and strong sense of its own convictions. All good Christians should after all be prepared to stand and fight for what they believe to be right. Brown also explored how the Early Churches started to organise themselves in terms of developin g the roles of the ministry and the laity