Peter, Stephen, James, and John: Studies in Non-Pauline Diversity in the Early Church

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Description

This concise study describes four of the non-Pauline movements in the early church, each of which can be identified with a particular leader: Peter, acknowledged leader of the apostles; Stephen and the Hellenists (Jews who spoke Greek culturally and linguistically); James and the Church of Jerusalem; and John and his circle, including his influence at Ephesus. Writing for the website Church History 101, R.A. Baker says, "Bruce admits to being a 'Paulinist,' yet this text gives NT readers a better historical understanding of the non-Pauline traditions.... If you want to properly understand Paul, you need to understand historical context. This text does the job."

About the Author(s)

Frederick Fyvie Bruce (1910-1990) was born in Scotland, the son of a Christian Brethren (Plymouth Brethren) preacher. He studied at the University of Aberdeen (where he met his future wife, Betty), Cambridge, and the University of Vienna. He taught at the universities of Edinburgh (where he and Betty married) and Leeds before becoming department head at the University of Sheffield and later professor at the University of Manchester.

His significance, however, cannot be found in a list of his academic positions or his amazing output from popular articles to scholarly commentaries. His significance is that "at a time when both tasks seemed impossible, he persuaded evangelicals to think differently about scholarship, and scholars to think differently about evangelicalism," said Peter Oakes of the University of Manchester.

F.F. Bruce let the Bible speak freely and did not make it fit a particular system of theology. He was humble and gentle, and he respected those with whom he disagreed. He was a superb scholar, and his scholarship had the purpose of helping people encounter Jesus Christ.

His colleague I. Howard Marshall summarized Professor Bruce’s career, "[He] will obviously be remembered first of all for his highly distinguished academic career as a university teacher and a prolific writer who did more than anybody else in this century to develop and encourage conservative evangelical scholarship. Possessed of outstanding intellectual ability, a phenomenal memory, and encyclopedic knowledge, a colossal capacity for work, and a limpid style, he produced a remarkable output of books and essays which will continue to be read for years to come, and he trained directly or indirectly many younger scholars now working in all parts of the world."

To which J.I. Packer adds, "No Christian was ever more free of narrow bigotry, prejudice and eccentricity in the views he held and the way he held them; no man did more to demonstrate how evangelical faith and total academic integrity may walk hand in hand."

System Requirements

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