{"product_id":"the-diaconate-a-full-and-equal-order-9781563380938","title":"The Diaconate: A Full and Equal Order","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis book is a highly readable  comprehensive study that has established itself as the definitive work on the diaconate. Drawing upon original sources  the book provides valuable insights into the development of the office of the deacon in the early church and situates it within the context of the churchs total ministry. Dr. Barnett contends that a radical change in the nature and understanding of the churchs ministry took place in the fourth century. A ministry that had included the whole people of God in a horizontal  organic structure gave way to one that was clerical and hierarchical. This change  among other factors  eventually transformed the diaconate into an inconsequential  transitional office on the way to the priesthood. Responding to the present-day revival of the diaconate in the Roman Catholic  Episcopal  Lutheran  and other churches  Barnett calls for a restoration of the office to its original place as full and equal order  thus re-creating the great symbol of the servant ministry that Christ gave to all the church. James Monroe Barnett  now living in retirement in Omaha  is the former rector of Trinity Episcopal Church  Norfolk  NE.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45256984494133,"sku":"ByrdShop_1563380935","price":47.87,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781563380938_ca3272d2-b175-41e9-b0db-692fa3f61378.jpg?v=1780600841","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-diaconate-a-full-and-equal-order-9781563380938","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}