Reflections on... The Pre-Constantinian Era (FTS_MC500)

Today we finished our discussion on the the era after the first century and before Constantine. Some of the changes during this era included the re-institutionalizing of religion after Jesus had deconstructed it during the first century. Whereas Jesus deconstructed the power structures and religious perspectives of Judaism, after the first century the church began to re-implement similar values of power in hierarchy and professionalism of a special clergy-class. Whereas Jesus said, "where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them," the pre-Constantinian church said, "where they are gathered around a rightly consecrated bishop rightly administering the the Eucharist, there is the church, the presence of Christ. Where there is no bishop, there is no church." The reasons for this may have been practical as well as theological: the church grew from roughly 10,000 in AD 100 to around 6,000,000 in AD 300. It took quite a bit more effort to care for a maintain the church at the end of the third century than it did at the end of the first.

One observation that Dr. Bolger made was that even though such growth over the second two centuries of the church seems massively exponentional, spaced out over the course of 200 years, it is more of a consistently steady growth over a long period of time. This brings home the reality that in the first few centuries, just as in the last few centuries, the backbone of church evangelism and growth has been through slow, steady conversion of friends and family members. Though there have been missionaries to new locations and mass revival type meetings, the long-lasting growth of the church has occurred as friends and family members are drawn into the church through exposure to life transformation and honest witness.

Finally, another interesting historical fact was a reference to a statement by one of the early church fathers, Tertullian, around AD 200. He made some comments to the effect that when people come to worship they should bring their own contributions, such as hymns. Over the course of the next few centuries, the church gathering went from being more active/participatory to more passive/receptive. It reminds me of something I've said before, that if you can still have the meeting with no one in attendance, then you're really not having a meeting, you're putting on a show. Shows have their place, but not in a family gathering.