Читать книгу The Origins of Christianity and the New Testament - Rebecca I. Denova - Страница 26

In the New Testament, and particularly in the letters of Paul, you will often see the word “church.” It is translated from the Greek ecclesia, which means “assembly.” The first missionaries apparently modeled their communities on the administrative structure of older Greek city-states and Roman towns, where the term referred to the “assembly” of free citizens who made up local government. In relation to the new groups of the followers of Jesus, a better translation would be “community.” Translating this as “church” conjures up images of church buildings and institutional hierarchy. Both were part of later Christian evolution. In the earlier communities there were no “churches;” people met in each other’s houses. In each of the chapters, I will highlight other translation issues that are problematic as they arise.