Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 32:3 (Summer 2018)
Article: Book Review "Patterns Of Ministry Among The First Chris"tians By Kevin Giles (Cascade, 2017)
Author: Michaela Miller

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Book Review
Patterns Of Ministry Among The First Christians
By Kevin Giles (Cascade, 2017)

Michaela Miller

Michaela Miller is a graduate of Milligan College and a student at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, both in eastern Tennessee. She is preparing to join the ministry of Pioneer Bible Translators.

In this second edition of Patterns of Ministry among the First Christians, Kevin Giles states that his primary goal is to provide a detailed study of the historical development and characteristics of Christian leadership that is accessible to a wide range of readers (viii). Accordingly, Giles avoids technical language that might hinder non-specialists. Additions to the 1991 edition include multiple digressions which will be of interest to readers of Priscilla Papers, as well as a closing chapter devoted to ordination. While Giles provides a general discussion of church leadership, this review will focus primarily on his comments concerning women and their leadership activities.

Giles begins the book by outlining some of his own presuppositions and primary sources. In ch. 2, he carefully examines Jesus’s instructions concerning the type of leadership that should be present among his followers, as well as Jesus’s own example and interactions. Giles notes Jesus’s interaction with and esteem for women throughout his earthly ministry, exemplified by his conversation with the Samaritan woman of John 4 (22).

Following ch. 2 is an excursus entitled “Jesus and Women” (26–32). Giles expands his discussion of Jesus’s interactions with women, especially noting that Jesus had female disciples (unlike Jewish rabbis). He also observes that Jesus’s teaching on marriage and divorce was especially radical in his social context, pointing his hearers toward the original ideal of equality between men and women (27–28). Giles goes on to point out four especially pertinent examples of Jesus’s positive interactions with women, including the woman who spoke from the crowd in Luke 11, the Samaritan woman of John 4, Mary and Martha, and the woman who anointed Jesus in Mark 14 (28–30).

In ch. 3, Giles shifts his attention to Paul and what his letters tell us about early Christian leadership. This chapter contains an excursus on women leaders in Paul’s early and undisputed letters (41–50). Giles focuses predominately on the women who are listed among Paul’s coworkers in Rom 16, including Phoebe, Priscilla, Junia, and others. He carefully examines the case of Junia the apostle and responds to the various arguments made by those who attempt to rob he...

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