who facilitated community worship and who took their office from the bishops but whose primary function was described in terms of their relationship to the Eucharist rather than the community (Rausch 18). Terminology gains importance in regard to development of Catholic priesthood from the early period. The word apostle is associated with establishment of church communities, particularly in the apostolic period and particu larly in connection with Pauline conception of ministry in terms of "witness, loving service, and worship" (Schaefer and Henderson 34). New Testament epistles to communities of the faithful connect bishops (overseers), deacons (servants), and presbyters (elders) to the apostolic generation that lends them doctrinal and undoubtedly institutional legitimacy; 1 Peter (1.1; 5.1) addresses elders of Christian communities in Asia Minor, identifying them with Peter the elder and witness of Christ's passion. One aspect of this was a tendency toward rationalization. Schaefer and Henderson (34) cite Cor. 14.40: "Let all things be done becomingly and in order," which can be interpreted as sanction for rationalization of everything from liturgy to the order of membership in the church, even though Paul himself "does not establish a normative structure for community worship" (Schaefer and Henderson 35). However, in the Timothy letters and Titus, there is evidence that "concern has already set in for stewardship of the tradition; the apostle requires an apostolic delegate" (Schaefer and Henderson 35).
The emergence of Church as institution carried with it features of rationalizaton--community candidacy and admittance, doctrine, liturgy, and personnel management. It is difficult to see how a community of faith that was so concerned to coordinate the experience of grace, or "charism," with matters of belief about the nature of God and Jesus, about redemption, faith, canonical texts, as well as mystical, historical, and other feat...