{"id":4215,"date":"2011-04-29T08:55:45","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T12:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=4215"},"modified":"2012-04-30T10:18:42","modified_gmt":"2012-04-30T14:18:42","slug":"church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/","title":{"rendered":"Church, Ekklesia, Kuriakon, or Circus?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Alan Knox<\/a> writes great posts about the church. He recently wrote two posts (Post 1<\/a> and Post 2<\/a>) about the definition of church, and here is an excerpt from one of them:<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, because of the many definitions of the modern term \u201cchurch,\u201d the meaning of the word when we read it in the New Testament is often muddled. Some of that ambiguity has arisen because the English term \u201cchurch\u201d did not originate from the Greek term\u00a0ekklesia<\/em> that it translates in the New Testament. (For more information, see my post \u201cThe ekklesia and the kuriakon<\/a>.\u201d)<\/p>\n

The Greek term\u00a0ekklesia<\/em> did not and could not carry all of the definitions of the English term \u201cchurch.\u201d Instead, the term ekklesia always referred to an assembly of people. (For more information, see my posts \u201cThe ekklesia of Josephus<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe ekklesia in context<\/a>.\u201d) In the instances that interest me, the term\u00a0ekklesia<\/em> refer to an assembly of God\u2019s people.<\/p>\n

In some cases, the term\u00a0ekklesia<\/em> refers to all of God\u2019s people which he has \u201cassembled\u201d or \u201cgathered\u201d out of the world. In other cases \u2013 most cases \u2013 the term refers to actual gatherings of God\u2019s people, often designated by geography or location. Interestingly, in this latter case, the term ekklesia does seem to refer to subset of a larger\u00a0ekklesia<\/em> (i.e. the \u201cchurch\u201d in someone\u2019s house as a subset of the \u201cchurch\u201d in a city). However, these subsets are never set against one another; they remain part of the larger\u00a0ekklesia<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have written some about this myself (Post 1<\/a> and Post 2<\/a>), and noted the following:<\/p>\n

It is important to note that \u201cchurch\u201d is not exactly a translation of the Greek\u00a0ekkl\u0113sia<\/em>. The term \u201cchurch\u201d actually is derived from the German\u00a0Kirche<\/em>, which in turn comes from the Greek adjective\u00a0kuriakon<\/em>, \u201cbelonging to the Lord\u201d (cf. 1 Cor 11:20) or possibly the Latin\u00a0circus<\/em>. In the early history of the church, when the New Testament was getting translated from Greek into Latin, there was no clear equivalent in Latin for\u00a0ekkl\u0113sia<\/em>, and so various terms were proposed. Tertullian used\u00a0curia <\/em>(\u201ccourt\u201d) while Augustine famously wrote of the\u00a0Civitas Dei<\/em> (\u201cCity of God\u201d).<\/p>\n

One surprisingly common term used by various Greek writers was\u00a0thiasos<\/em> (\u201cparty\u201d), which generally referred to a troop of revelers marching through the city streets with dance and song, often in honor of Bacchus, the god of drunkenness. The point is that many early writers did not know how to translate or describe the term\u00a0ekkl\u0113sia<\/em>, but the terms they proposed offer tantalizing clues as to how the church functioned and was viewed during its early years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Are you glad that our Latin forefathers went with “church” or would have preferred one of the others: court, party, City of God, or maybe even Circus? Sometimes I think church is a circus.<\/p>\n

Maybe as the church goes through upheavals in modern times, we should search for a new term. Rather than qualifying the term “church” (as in\u00a0Institutional\u00a0Church, House Church, Simple Church, Missional Church, Organic Church), we should just use a different word altogether.<\/p>\n

I have written more on this in my book, Skeleton Church<\/a>.\"\" Get your copy today!<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Latin forefathers translated ekklesia as “kuriokos” (church). They could have gone with: court, party, City of God, or maybe even circus. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32],"class_list":{"0":"post-4215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"tag-theology-church","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nChurch, Ekklesia, Kuriakon, or Circus?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our Latin forefathers translated ekklesia as "kuriokos" (church). They could have gone with: court, party, City of God, or maybe even circus.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Church, Ekklesia, Kuriakon, or Circus?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our Latin forefathers translated ekklesia as "kuriokos" (church). They could have gone with: court, party, City of God, or maybe even circus.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Redeeming God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-29T12:55:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-04-30T14:18:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Ekklesia.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeremy Myers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@redeeminggod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@redeeminggod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeremy Myers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeremy Myers\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"headline\":\"Church, Ekklesia, Kuriakon, or Circus?\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-29T12:55:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-30T14:18:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/\"},\"wordCount\":536,\"commentCount\":7,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Ekklesia.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Theology of the Church\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/\",\"name\":\"Church, Ekklesia, Kuriakon, or Circus?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Ekklesia.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-29T12:55:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-30T14:18:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"Our Latin forefathers translated ekklesia as \\\"kuriokos\\\" (church). They could have gone with: court, party, City of God, or maybe even circus.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Ekklesia.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Ekklesia.jpg\",\"width\":\"550\",\"height\":\"413\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Church, Ekklesia, Kuriakon, or Circus?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/\",\"name\":\"Redeeming God\",\"description\":\"Liberating you from bad ideas about God\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\",\"name\":\"Jeremy Myers\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeremy Myers\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"description\":\"Jeremy Myers writes about Scripture and theology in a way that redeems God and people from the prison of religion. He is a popular author and blogger and often gives away free eBooks to his blog subscribers.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/redeeminggod\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Church, Ekklesia, Kuriakon, or Circus?","description":"Our Latin forefathers translated ekklesia as \"kuriokos\" (church). They could have gone with: court, party, City of God, or maybe even circus.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Church, Ekklesia, Kuriakon, or Circus?","og_description":"Our Latin forefathers translated ekklesia as \"kuriokos\" (church). They could have gone with: court, party, City of God, or maybe even circus.","og_url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/","og_site_name":"Redeeming God","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804","article_published_time":"2011-04-29T12:55:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-04-30T14:18:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":550,"height":413,"url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Ekklesia.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jeremy Myers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@redeeminggod","twitter_site":"@redeeminggod","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeremy Myers","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/"},"author":{"name":"Jeremy Myers","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c"},"headline":"Church, Ekklesia, Kuriakon, or Circus?","datePublished":"2011-04-29T12:55:45+00:00","dateModified":"2012-04-30T14:18:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/"},"wordCount":536,"commentCount":7,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Ekklesia.jpg","keywords":["Theology of the Church"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/","url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/","name":"Church, Ekklesia, Kuriakon, or Circus?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Ekklesia.jpg","datePublished":"2011-04-29T12:55:45+00:00","dateModified":"2012-04-30T14:18:42+00:00","description":"Our Latin forefathers translated ekklesia as \"kuriokos\" (church). They could have gone with: court, party, City of God, or maybe even circus.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Ekklesia.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Ekklesia.jpg","width":"550","height":"413"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-ekklesia-kuriakon-circus\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Church, Ekklesia, Kuriakon, or Circus?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/","name":"Redeeming God","description":"Liberating you from bad ideas about God","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c","name":"Jeremy Myers","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeremy Myers"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"description":"Jeremy Myers writes about Scripture and theology in a way that redeems God and people from the prison of religion. He is a popular author and blogger and often gives away free eBooks to his blog subscribers.","sameAs":["https:\/\/redeeminggod.com","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804","https:\/\/x.com\/redeeminggod"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}