Includes bibliographies and indexes.

Preface -- Introduction -- Part One: Ministry as Formation of Community -- The New Testament Evidence -- Ante-Nicene Developments -- The Patristic Period -- Ministry in Medieval Culture -- Ministry in the Age of Reform -- Ministry in the Modern Church -- Ministry as Formation of Community -- Part Two: Ministry to God's Word -- Ministry of the Word in the New Testament -- The Word in the Ante-Nicene Church -- The Word in the Patristic Period -- The World in the Middle Ages -- The Word in the Reformation Period -- The Word in the Modern Church -- Theological Reflections on God's Word -- Part Three: Service to the People of God -- The NEw Testament Ideal of Service -- The Patristic Period and the Early Middle Ages -- Medieval Structures of Church Service -- Reformation and Post-Reformation Evolution -- Theological Reflections on Human Need -- Part Four: Ministering to God's Judgment -- New Testament Concepts of Judgment -- New TEstament Concepts of Judgment -- Judgment in the Ante-Nicene Period -- Judgment and AUthority in the Patristic Period -- Judgment and Authority in the Middle Ages -- The Reformation Controversies -- The Exercise of Authority in the Modern Church -- Theological Reflections on Judgment -- Part Five: Ministry to the Church's Sacramentality -- Cult, Priesthood, and Ministry in the New Testament -- The Cult in the Ante-Nicene Period -- Sacramental Ministry in the Middle Ages -- Challenge and Response -- Post-Reformation Sacramental Ministry -- Theological Reflections on Sacramental Ministry