A rather vaguely term suggesting the beginning of the process of the early church becoming more and more institutional. Though the offices of elders (presbyterous), overseers/bishops (episcopos), and deacons (diakonos) are mentioned in the NT, overall we are not presented with any model of the church having been an organized heirarchy of officers and authority. The term was coined to refer to the time when such institutional order began to form. There is, however, extremely little evidence to suggest how it did.
F. F. Bruce, "The History of New Testament Study," in New Testament Interpretation: Essays on Principles and Methods, ed. I. Howard Marshall, (Carlisle: The Paternoster Press, revised 1979), pp.21-59. (On Incipient Catholicism, see esp., pp.51-52.) Pdf N 6-7 (Open on Phone)
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