Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: bcsaic!carroll@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Jeff Carroll) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Ordination in general Message-ID: Date: 30 Aug 90 07:30:05 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle Lines: 33 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes: >In article bcsaic!carroll@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Jeff Carroll) writes: >> It is true that Christ himself neither explicitly endorsed the >>concept of an ordained Christian priesthood (indeed, some parts of the >>Gospel could be quoted in support of the contention that Christ intended >>His followers to remain Jews), nor did he expound the rest of Christian >>sacramental theology as we have it today. >Christ very explicitly called 12 apostles to follow him, and at >another point sent 72 disciples to spread his word. He didn't >just say that anyone who followed him was an apostle. >So the notion of church order and of certain groups of men* >being ordained to a special role goes right back to Christ. I agree with you that far. Christ did commission certain of his followers to certain ministries. It is usually unclear (in Scripture) whether any of these commissions were permanent. (Most are taken by Protestants as binding upon the entire Church; a good example is the commission given at the Ascension.) Another good example is the "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" line. Even if this is authentic (which some scholars doubt), Christ is not quoted as saying, "You are to be the first Bishop of Rome, and your successors shall be acknowledged as the infallible heads of My Church." In the same way, Christ instituted the "sacraments of the Gospel" by baptizing, and by celebrating the Last Supper with his disciples. He did not however enunciate the doctrine of the Real Presence, nor of Transsubstantiation, nor any of the various dogmas which have grown up around baptism. Jeff Carroll carroll@atc.boeing.com