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Holy Bishops in Late AntiquityThe Nature of Christian Leadership in an Age of Transition$
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Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity: The Nature of Christian Leadership in an Age of Transition

Claudia Rapp

Print publication date: 2005

Print ISBN-13: 9780520242968

Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012

DOI: 10.1525/california/9780520242968.001.0001

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PRINTED FROM CALIFORNIA SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.california.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright University of California Press, 2022. All Rights Reserved. An individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in CALSO for personal use.date: 28 June 2022

Pragmatic Authority

Pragmatic Authority

Chapter:
(p.23) Chapter Two Pragmatic Authority
Source:
Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity
Author(s):

Claudia Rapp

Publisher:
University of California Press
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520242968.003.0002

This chapter shows how the concrete or pragmatic authority of bishops within the church has its roots in an appreciation of a bishop's spiritual abilities. It presents an overview of the early church orders. It also explores the normative texts that were generated within the church to describe and define ecclesiastical leadership. The link between pragmatic authority and its justification by ascetic authority is pursued further in a detailed study of the late antique comments on the only passage in the New Testament that describes the role of the bishop in detail, 1 Timothy 3:1–7. Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care had its origin in the months after his accession to the episcopal see in Rome in 590. Gregory gives detailed and practical advice on how to address an audience that consists of men and women of different social backgrounds who have different life experiences and spiritual needs.

Keywords:   pragmatic authority, bishops, church orders, Timothy, ecclesiastical leadership, ascetic authority, New Testament, Pastoral Care, Gregory

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