The Pastoral Theology of the Apostolic Fathers

Abstract

This dissertation argues that early Christianity possessed a stable and unified theology of pastoral identity and work. Historic studies of early Christian leadership sought to justify present ecclesiological structures from apostolic and postapostolic texts, finding mutually exclusive leadership patterns in the New Testament and Apostolic Fathers. More recently, studies have either argued for discontinuity between these periods, significant diversity among postapostolic documents, or outside forces having primary influence on the nature and development of early Christian leadership. In contrast, this project will demonstrate in the texts of the New Testament and Apostolic Fathers that early Christians articulated a vision for ministry with four shared theological judgments about pastoral ministry: pastoral virtue, pastoral authority, pastoral work, and pastoral suffering. Regarding pastoral virtue, both a general blamelessness and a particular nexus of relational virtues were required for all who would lead the church. Additionally, all pastoral leaders were view with spiritual authority, often related to God’s authority and with repeated admonitions for Christians to obey pastoral leaders. While there is some diversity in pastoral work in this period, the New Testament and Apostolic Fathers consistently attribute preaching, spiritual oversight, and presiding at Christian gatherings as the central works of pastoral leaders. Finally, apostolic and postapostolic literature described pastoral leaders as sufferers, particularly suffering from the difficulties of ministry in the life of the church. These four theological judgments are expressed variously but equally insisted upon by the documents of the New Testament and Apostolic Fathers. This theological vision shows remarkable theological stability in early pastoral theology even in the midst of the development of ministry structures and strongly suggests a measure of catholicity about pastoral leadership in the earliest periods of Christianity.