Un solo corpo. Laicità e sacerdozio nel cristianesimo delle origini

The distinction between laypeople and clerics, which had become a common way to designate members of the new movement arising in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, does not appear in the texts of the New Testament, the most ancient and also most prescriptive Christian writings. Indeed, those writings emphasise a convergent tendency by which all believers contributed to the new ecclesiastical reality, that is, a community whose members included with no distinction both ecclesial ministers (never called “priests”) and other members of the community (never called laypeople). That is why it is important to explore those writings, to compare the church structure attested therein and the religious patterns underlying Greek and Jewish groups, and to ascertain the novel features and the authentic essence of Christianity.