Images of the Church in the New Testament

Publisher Description

From 'the bride of Christ' to 'the cup of the Lord', there are many terms in the New Testament which are simply taken for granted or not understood for their symbolical or figurative meanings. This profound study of the underlying implications of over a hundred terms in the New Testament offers a deeper understanding of what the Christian church really is. This pioneering work allows the reader to uncover the true nature of the church through the extensive gallery of images in the New Testament. The range of connotations communicated by a particular image against a historical background is analysed within the text. The author considers images as being able to communicate more than language alone; they can also broaden the mind of an individual and form a mode for perceiving and understanding a given reality. The minor images of the church in the New Testament are investigated through to the people of God and the body of Christ. The final chapter assesses the interrelation of the images analysed and the strategic inferences to be drawn from their interweaving. "When the contemporary church wishes to articulate its sense of an eternal origin and destiny it will do well to cultivate the image-bearing qualities of that language it has inherited from the Bible." - Extract from the Postscript.