The First Christian Centuries: Clement of Rome

One of the most important documents of the period of transition from the "Apostolic Church" to the "Catholic Church",1 Clement confronts scholars with one of the "thorniest problems of the Church": the question of office and ministry; its origin,its authority and power;and the question of a supreme authority in the Church.The present study,an investigation and critical evaluation of the positions of fifteen Protestant and eighteen Catholic scholars,focuses on three aspects of the concept of church office and ministry in 1 Clement:the historical and theological foundation of office,the universal validity and permanence of Clement's understanding of office,and the question of Roman primacy.The author deals in particular with the change in interpretation and evaluation of 1 Clement following the application of the new hermeneutical tools and critical exegetical methods,a reevaluation which proves fruitful for the ecumenical dialogue concerning the question of ecclesiastical ministry and supreme authority in the Church,all the more so since 1 Clement presents the first theory of office in the history of the Church.

Clement of Rome's First Epistle to the Corinthians is a supremely valuable historical document. It is one of the very few Christian texts that have survived from the first century. The early Christians took utmost care to preserve the letter, copying it out by hand and even risking their lives in order to hide it from persecutors. Some local churches kept it for proclamation as part of the New Testament. Msgr. Thomas Herron's painstaking research led him to conclude that the Epistle to the Corinthians was composed very early indeed before 70 A.D. He was not the first scholar to argue for an early date, but he was the first to undertake a thorough study of the matter. His methods are rigorous. His writing is clear and honest. His tone is modest.

St. Clement's epistle, written c. 96, is called the first epistle, and is a model of a pastoral letter. The epistles of St. Ignatius, Bishop of Smyrna at the beginning of the second century, are addressed to six Christian communities.

Harvard dissertations in religion, no. 23