The Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles Author:A.H. McNeile, Charles Bigg, Arthur John MacLean The church was born into a well-developed system of religion. The earliest believers maintained the practices of their fathers, but changed their meaning in order to accommodate the message of Jesus. Their services were borrowed from the synagogue, and their worship was adopted as well. Only after Christianity spread into regions no longer influ... more »enced by Judaism did the church take on gentile characteristics, even some with pagan leanings. One of the most important carry-overs from the synagogue was the reading of scripture in the church. While the text was the same, their interpretation was considerably different. Throughout the scriptures, early Christians found references to a coming Messiah and the fulfillment of those promises in Jesus. Most of what an early believer knew about the Bible was heard, not read, for copies of the scriptures were both scarce and unnecessary. It was the oral form of the gospel that circulated first, and, similarly, someone was appointed in the local church for the official task of reading the sacred text in its Greek form. How much use the early Christians made of the Old Testament has been a matter of discussion for centuries. What form of the scriptures they employed, in what language they were read, and how complete a canon they possessed have all become part of the question. A. H. McNeile addresses each of the issues, including a discussion on Jesus' use of scripture, in this treatise. Central to the subject is inspiration; What about the sacred text is inspired? He concludes that the words themselves are rendered meaningless without their application; it is their internal affect, not the external details about authorship and accuracy, that matters. After these preliminary issues are covered, McNeile investigates the views of the ante-Nicene writers. He describes multiple levels of interpretation and the problems associated with translation. He then approaches the modern church in much the same way, and discusses the advances and detractions of literary criticism. The work closes with the indebtedness of the church to the religion of Israel.« less