This book will investigates "New Testament texts about the church from a comparative standpoint. That is, the various authors adopt different metaphors for their communities-family, assembly, nation, priesthood, and so on--to make varying claims about how they ought to live together and how they ought to live among their neighbors. In their descriptions of themselves as the church, Christians implicitly and explicitly describe their theology but also the Roman empire, the Jerusalem temple, the synagogue, popular philosophical circles, and first-century domestic order."--Publisher.