Winthrop University Digital Commons @ Winthrop University Graduate Theses The Graduate School 12-2016 The eT mple Character of Early Christianity Matthew iH gdon Winthrop University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/graduatetheses Part of the History of Christianity Commons, and the History of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Higdon, Matthew, "The eT mple Character of Early Christianity" (2016). Graduate Theses. 46. https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/graduatetheses/46 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the The Graduate School at Digital Commons @ Winthrop University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Winthrop University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE TEMPLE CHARACTER OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY A Thesis Presented to the Faculty Of the College of Arts and Sciences In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Of Master of Arts In History Winthrop University December, 2016 By Matthew E. Higdon i Abstract I will argue that early Christianity more or less comprehensively envisioned itself, across varying traditions, to be a human-temple community, or a series of such communities; and that this word picture, this symbol, to a certain extent ordered their social life and aspirations. I propose three interlocking aspects to this priestly sociology. First, there is the element of unity. From the beginning, the temple model promoted unity, and it became particularly important later among very disparate groups of people within the church Second, the cultic motif generated a fresh kind of priestly ethics appropriate to the self-understanding of the movement.