What is the Church? Perhaps more importantly, what is it meant to be? How did its earliest members understand this body of which they had become a part?This is a textbook collection of fifteen essays by an international group of New Testament experts. They bring together a dynamic range of perspectives on how the early Christians viewed the Church: its origins, purpose and relation to Jewish Scriptures and to Jesus Christ; its place in the world and in God's plan; its community life and worship, in theory and in practice.