0.9 2.5 the literature of the early church

The efforts of the followers of Jesus to keep his ministry and message alive—led, they believed, by his spirit—created an institution whose only guide beyond the memory of his words and examples was Judaism. At first, they met in synagogues and in homes, sang from the Psalms, read from Jewish scripture, and accepted only other Jews as converts. But as this institution, the church, grew and added members who had not seen or heard Jesus, particularly those without Jewish backgrounds, theological and organizational problems arose. Leaders from among the later converts asserted themselves and challenged the power of the apostles who had been with Jesus. Stories of his life, an account of the church's beginning, letters that clarified doctrinal issues and gave practical advice, bulletins containing news of the organization and growth of churches in various places, notes of greeting and encouragement to fellow Christians, and visionary interpretations of kingdom theology were written, read, copied, and passed around. Some were ultimately accepted as authoritative by the church and, nearly 300 years after Jesus' death, were canonized as the scriptures of the Christian faith, the New Testament. These "books"—the Acts of the Apostles, which relates the activities of the church's first years, and the letters of Paul, Peter, and other known and unknown authors and interpreters of Christian dogma—composed the writings to which Baptists most often turned to discover God's will for Christian women.

Acts gives no instructions to women, but verifies that they were present in Jerusalem with the apostles and other followers of Jesus after his ascension (Acts 1:14). On the day of Pentecost when this group spoke in tongues, Peter claimed it was in fulfillment of the words of the prophet Joel: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy" (Acts 2:17-18). Women were obviously a part of the band that lived together communally in the first Jerusalem church, since they are recorded as giving possessions (Acts 5:1-10), being baptized (Acts 5:14), complaining for having been treated unfairly in the daily distribution (Acts 6:1), and being imprisoned by a zealot named Saul (Acts 8:3). The book of Acts also records the names of some women that appear in lists of biblical heroines: Tabitha, or Dorcas, who made clothing for the poor (Acts 9:36-41); Lydia, a Greek businesswoman who held prayer services (Acts 16:13-15); and Priscilla, a tentmaker who, along with her husband, gave further instruction to a young preacher (Acts 18:2-3, 24-26).

The epistles, or letters, also mention the names of individual women who "labored with [Paul] in the gospel" (Phil. 4:2-3). Timothy, one of the apostle Paul's co-ministers, is reminded of the faith that "dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice . . ." (II Tim. 1:5). A reference to Phebe (or Phoebe) in Romans 16:1-2