Work as Vocation. The Priesthood of All Believers

God's Word ◽

False Prophets

Luther’s, Zwingli’s, Bucer’s, and Zell’s early uses of prophecy focused on buttressing their teachings of the priesthood of all believers, rejecting Roman Catholic distinctions between the spiritual and temporal estates, and challenging Roman Catholic “tyranny” over biblical interpretation. These Protestant reformers defined a true prophet as one who proclaims and interprets the Word of God alone; the prophet and prophecy were therefore significant tools for rejecting Roman Catholic authority—by spurning Roman Catholic conceptions of the priesthood and identifying Roman Catholic leaders as false prophets—and ultimately for asserting the prime authority of Scripture. In the 1520s lay pamphleteers, including several female pamphleteers, embraced Luther’s, Zwingli’s, Bucer’s, and Zell’s early conceptions of the prophet in order to defend their call to proclaim God’s Word, interpret Scripture, and rebuke wrong teaching.

The Reformation of Prophecy

10.1093/oso/9780190866921.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

G. Sujin Pak

Keyword(s):

Old Testament ◽

Word Of God ◽

Beliefs And Practices ◽

The People ◽

The Reformation ◽

History Of ◽

A Site ◽

Developmental Analysis ◽

Sacred History

The Reformation of Prophecy presents and supports the case for viewing the prophet and biblical prophecy as a powerful lens by which to illuminate many aspects of the reforming work of the Protestant reformers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It provides a chronological and developmental analysis of the significance of the prophet and biblical prophecy across leading Protestant reformers in articulating a theology of the priesthood of all believers, a biblical model of the pastoral office, a biblical vision of the reform of worship, and biblical processes for discerning right interpretation of Scripture. Through the tool of the prophet and biblical prophecy, the reformers framed their work under, within, and in support of the authority of Scripture—for the true prophet speaks the Word of God alone and calls the people, their worship and their beliefs and practices, back to the Word of God. The book also demonstrates how interpretations and understandings of the prophet and biblical prophecy contributed to the formation and consolidation of distinctive confessional identities, especially around differences in their visions of sacred history, Christological exegesis of Old Testament prophecy, and interpretation of Old Testament metaphors. This book illuminates the significant shifts in the history of Protestant reformers’ engagement with the prophet and biblical prophecy—shifts from these serving as a tool to advance the priesthood of all believers to a tool to clarify and buttress clerical identity and authority to a site of polemical-confessional exchange concerning right interpretations of Scripture.

Reformation und politisch-gesellschaftliche Emanzipation

Evangelische Theologie ◽

10.14315/evth-2014-0205 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 74 (2) ◽

pp. 118-126 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bernd Oberdorfer

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

Learning Processes ◽

Pluralistic Society ◽

Protestant Churches ◽

The Reformation ◽

The Individual ◽

The Church ◽

Modern Sense

AbstractThe relevance of the reformation for the development of modern liberty rights is much debated. Although the Protestant Reformers fought for the »Freedom of a Christian« against religious patronization, they were not tolerant in a modern sense of the term. However, the Reformation released long-term impulses which contributed to the origin and formation of a modern civil society, e. g. the respect for the autonomy of the individual over against the church, the passion for education, the emphasis on the »universal priesthood of all believers«, and the appreciation of civil professions. Long historical learning processes were necessary, though, until the Protestant churches acknowledged and adopted modern liberty rights, a participatory democracy and a pluralistic society as genuine forms of expression of a Protestant ethos.

The missional church structure and the priesthood of all believers (Ephesians 4:7�16) in the light of the inward and outward function of the church

Verbum et Ecclesia ◽

10.4102/ve.v38i1.1709 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 38 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Timothy A. Van Aarde

Keyword(s):

Kingdom Of God ◽

Missional Church ◽

The West ◽

Church Structure ◽

The New Testament ◽

Institutional Church ◽

Church Structures ◽

And Function ◽

The missional church is a new consciousness which has been raised for the missionary sending of the church in the West to be a witness for the Kingdom of God in its own context. The missional church has returned mission to the centre of ecclesiology. A structural functioning of the missional church and its relation to existing church structures are essential to rescue the missional church from simply becoming the latest fad. The present missional church conversation in advocating for an organic church structure undermines existing institutional church structures. A dynamic functioning church structure in which the inward and outward dimensions of the church�s single ecclesiological structure are able to function in a cohesive unity is set out in Ephesians. The function of the gifted persons in the task of equipping of the believers to fulfil their missional calling, vocation and function is paramount to the healthy integration of the missional church model in existing mission and church paradigms and for it to function within the framework of existing church structures.Interdisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article suggests that a dynamic unity exists between the ecclesiology of the church and missional structure and function of the church. The article explores interdisciplinary implications from the fields of the New Testament and missiology.

PRIESTS, PRESBYTERS, AND THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS:

'Ecclesia semper reformanda'. Renewal and Reform beyond Polemics ◽

10.2307/j.ctv1q26s68.16 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 275-306

Author(s):

Charlotte Methuen

Keyword(s):

Priesthood Of All Believers

The Priesthood of All Believers

Baptist Quarterly ◽

10.1080/0005576x.1955.11750925 ◽

1955 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 99-108

Author(s):

R. L. Child

Keyword(s):

Priesthood Of All Believers

Die priesterskap van die gelowiges soos Calvyn dit gesien het

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies ◽

10.4102/hts.v45i2.2288 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 45 (2) ◽

Author(s):

A. D. Pont

Keyword(s):

John Calvin ◽

Short Introduction ◽

Universal Priesthood ◽

The priesthood of all believers as seen by Calvin The Lutheran thesis of the priesthood of all believers was also taken over by John Calvin. The position of this thesis in Calvin’s theology is examined and it is shown that Calvin does not trea t this thesis as a separate statement. A short introduction is given of the main points Calvin explores when he discusses the meaning of the thesis. In the end it is shown that Calvin developed the thesis of the universal priesthood in such a low-key form to preserve the order in the Church and the prime position of the preaching of the gospel.

Calvin and the Priesthood of all Believers

Scottish Journal of Theology ◽

10.1017/s0036930600027046 ◽

1968 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 145-156

Author(s):

John R. Crawford

Keyword(s):

Sixteenth Century ◽

John Calvin ◽

Christian Doctrine ◽

Modern Times ◽

God's People ◽

The Reformation ◽

The Way

A Mong those elements of Christian doctrine which surged anew to the forefront of Christian thinking during the early sixteenth century was that biblical idea which, in more modern times, we have come to call the ‘priesthood of all believers’. Luther used the doctrine almost as a battle-axe, to hew away at the pretensions of the Roman hierarchy and sacramental system. Almost invariably, it is Luther's name which we find linked to this doctrine in studies of the Reformation period. However, any serious study of the idea of the priesthood of God's people would do well to include an examination of the way in which John Calvin dealt with it, and indeed, the way in which the idea found certain expressions within his system of ecclesiastical organisation. It is our purpose here to see what Calvin taught in relationship to this biblical idea, and what elements of the life of the Genevan church may be considered to be, at least in part, an expression of the idea.

A Homosocial Priesthood of All Believers: Laity and Gender in Interwar Sweden

Church History ◽

10.1017/s0009640719001185 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 88 (2) ◽

pp. 440-464

Author(s):

Martin Nykvist

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

Church Of Sweden ◽

Gender Differentiation ◽

Early Twentieth Century ◽

Church Life ◽

And Gender ◽

Around the turn of the twentieth century, there was a growing concern within the Church of Sweden that the church was, to a too large extent, managed by the clergy alone. In an attempt to give the laity a more active and influential role in the Church of Sweden, the Brethren of the Church was established in 1918. Since it was only possible for men to become members, the organization simultaneously addressed a different issue: the view that women had become a much too salient group in church life. This process was described by the Brethren and similar groups as a “feminization” of the church, a phrasing which later came to be used by historians and theologians to explain changes in Western Christianity in the nineteenth century. In other words, the Brethren considered questions of gender vital to their endeavor to create a church in which the laity held a more prominent position. This article analyzes how the perceived feminization and its assumed connection to secularization caused enhanced attempts to uphold and strengthen gender differentiation in the Church of Sweden in the early twentieth century. By analyzing an all-male lay organization, the importance of homosociality in the construction of Christian masculinities will also be discussed.

How Church and Parachurch Should Relate: Arguments for a Servant-Partnership Model

Missiology An International Review ◽

10.1177/009182960002800205 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 199-207 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

John S. Hammett

Keyword(s):

Partnership Model ◽

Partnership Approach ◽

The Relationship ◽

This article addresses the relationship between churches and parachurch groups and argues for a servant-partnership approach. With this model parachurch organizations work as legitimate and valuable partners with churches in ministry, but possessing a status subordinate to that of churches. This model is based on a claim of theological priority for the church, in both local and denominational expressions, and the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.