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Roman Allotment and the Selection of Bishops
Abstract
Acts 1: 23–26 describes the selection of Matthias to replace Judas; use of an allotment to select a priest had Jewish, apostolic precedents. Commentators reference Biblical authorities and precedents for a divinely affirmed allotment. The appointment of Christian bishops in the third century ce, however, shows a popular election procedure. This chapter first considers the Christian turn away from allotment to select priests and examines allotment from the Republican into the imperial period, including Roman contexts in the first–fourth centuries ce; second, it summarizes what Christians said about allotment and particularly Matthias’s appointment by lot in the early centuries ce when Christians developed the office of the bishop and there was little evidence for the actual appointment of bishops. How Christian thinkers wrote about allotment and its use in appointing bishops allows us to track Christian appropriation or translation of ancient, classical religious practice.
Overview
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TL;DR
The chapter argues that although Acts 1:23–26 gave an apostolic precedent for choosing Matthias by lot, early Christian writers and communities turned away from allotment when developing the office of bishop, instead adopting popular election/acclamation. It reads this shift as selective appropriation and translation of Roman and biblical traditions, driven partly by anxiety about allotment as an uncontrollable mode of appointing leadership.
Key findings
- Acts 1:23–26 describes a two-stage procedure: two candidates preselected by the community, then an allotment that identified Matthias as chosen by God; the chapter notes this had Jewish precedents and Roman parallels, including selection of Vestal Virgins.
- Evidence for Christian bishops in the third century CE shows popular election, and Cyprian of Carthage (died 258 CE) cited Acts to argue for popular election as apostolic tradition while suppressing the lot in Matthias’s appointment.
- Christian apocrypha imagined allotment for religious leadership and duties—e.g., *Protevangelium Iacobi* 24:4, *Acts of Thomas* 1, *Acts of Philip* 94, *Acts of Andrew* 1—but these texts were rejected from the canon.
- Origen treated Matthias’s lot as divine judgment and used it to critique contemporary church leadership; he was eventually declared a heretic, while Augustine interpreted *sors* as divine will and salvation without citing Matthias’s lot as a precedent for church election procedure.
Methods
- Design: historical and textual analysis comparing Roman allotment practices with early Christian commentary on the selection of Matthias and the appointment of bishops.
- Data: biblical texts (especially Acts), Roman authors and inscriptions (Cicero, Livy, Valerius Maximus, Velleius, Suetonius, Tacitus, Pliny, etc.), early Christian writers (Ignatius, Clement, *Didache*, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, Augustine), and New Testament apocrypha.
- Main analysis: close reading of vocabulary, procedure, and selective citation to track Christian appropriation, rejection, or translation of Roman and biblical allotment traditions.
Limitations
- Stated: evidence for the procedure of episcopal appointment in the first three centuries is “meager”; sources are often silent; the authorship and date of the *Gospel of James* are unknown; Cyprian engages in “special pleading.”
- Stated: the date of Acts is debated, and the chapter notes uncertainty about how Matthias or his community viewed his role as divinely ordained.
- Evident from the text: the argument is interpretive and source-dependent, with no systematic dataset or independent confirmation of actual appointment practices beyond literary and inscriptional testimony.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The evidence for the appointment of Christian bishops in the third century CE , however, shows a procedure of popular election.”
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“Instead he carefully delineates a direct line of authority from Jesus through the apostles to the churches established by them (20.4-5)”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites 20.4-5
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In the paper
“Most of all he uses the language of allotment to describe the human condition (gender, sensory perception, corporal mortality) and the natural world as the product of the divine immanence in the material world (e.g., De testimonio animae [ On the Testimony of the Soul ] 16.2, and often).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites De testimonio animae 16.2
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In the paper
“Conspicuously, Tertullian claims that Judas's falling away fulg7Flled prophecy (Psalm 109:8);”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Psalm 109:8
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In the paper
“he does not inveigh against the public allotment”
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In the paper
“He similarly contrasts the authoritative, g7Fnal judgment of Christ with the underworld judgment of Minos and Rhadamanthus, who got their authority by lot, again appropriating another enduring literary image to assert the primacy of the Christian god.”
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In the paper
“and he emphasizes the continuity of teaching ( ' they promulgated the same teaching of the same faith to the nations').”
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In the paper
“According to Cyprian, the public, popular election legitimates church ofg7Fce:”
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In the paper
“Origen understands the selection of Matthias to replace Judas as a preliminary election followed by a process that removed the selection from human will:”
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In the paper
“Crucially, he cites as precedent the replacement appointment of Matthias:”
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- It may state two separate claims as one. 47
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In the paper
“On the allotment to determine voting units, Cicero uses a neutral vocabulary ( sortiri/sortitio/sors ) or verbs that emphasize mechanics ( exire or ducere ), whereas his description of the allotment to assign tasks to elected ofg7Fcials uses vocabulary that implies auspication that creates a divinely ordained duty.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Cicero
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In the paper
“So, Tertullian knows the procedure of Roman allotment well;”
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In the paper
“Tertullian, like Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians , looks away from the lot when describing Matthias's appointment.”
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In the paper
“Tertullian refers to the Roman allotment of administrative posts ( Apologeticus [ Apol . ] [ The Apology ] 7.8-10) and military duties ( Apol . 2.8)”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Apol. 7.8-10
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- Not matchedcites Apol. 2.8
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In the paper
“Moreover, he appropriates the language of Roman allotment to describe the shared kingdom of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ( Adversus Praxean [ Against Praxeas ] 3.4-5, 17.2-3), where we have a parallel with the allotted division of Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Adversus Praxean 3.4-5
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- Not matchedcites 17.2-3
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In the paper
“The imperial idiom describing allotment emphasizes its mechanics; and the ritual, specig7Fcally auspical, vocabulary has all but disappeared.”
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In the paper
“His references to allotment show him deeply acculturated, aware of Roman political and social practices, as well as learned in Roman literary traditions.”
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In the paper
“but he does not cite the fulg7Fllment of prophecy or the precedent of Acts to justify Matthias's replacement of Judas, or the modality of Matthias's appointment by lot.”
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In the paper
“he vividly describes the highly anticipated spectacle of the allotment for starting positions in the chariot races ( De spectaculis [ On the Spectacles ] 16.1- 2).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites De spectaculis 16.1-2
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Evidence for the procedure of episcopal appointment in the g7Frst three centuries is meager but indicates a prolonged contest over the legitimacy of church leadership.”
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In the paper
“The conclusion parallels the g7Frst exposition of Psalm 30, where Augustine expands the concrete meaning of sors to describe the allotted fortune of salvation ( Enarr. in Ps. 30.16):”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Enarr. in Ps. 30.16
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In the paper
“He then deg7Fnes the authority of the people to judge and witness the worthiness of the priest:”
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In the paper
“He insists that the results of allotment manifest the will of God (23.2, cf. 23.3):”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites 23.2
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- Not matchedcites 23.3
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In the paper
“Augustine's thinking became foundational: the Enarrationes clearly resonated with and guided Christians, who, as Lehman has emphasized, copied and distributed his texts for their own homiletic use.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Lehman 2013: 162
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In the paper
“Cyprian engages in special pleading, as Torjesen has remarked (2004: 189-190); his own ascent to ofg7Fce came from a popular mandate, not the support of the church hierarchy with which he continually struggled to assert his authority as bishop.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Torjesen 2004: 189-190
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In the paper
“Augustine caps the discussion by translating 'lot' as the salvation that emerges as the free gift of God:”
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In the paper
“He identig7Fes the selection by lot as a divine judgment and the lot as a mechanism of divine will because of the preceding prayer:”
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In the paper
“He claims that the community has to obey Divine rules because they have the authority to appoint priests from God:”
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In the paper
“Signig7Fcantly, Origen begins his discussion of the appointment of Matthias by contrasting the wisdom of the apostles with the current church leadership (23.2):”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites 23.2
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In the paper
“He claims that the lot is not evil and can re ect divine will ('the lot is not something evil, but in a context of human uncertainty the lot serves as an indicator of divine will').”
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In the paper
“In the second commentary on Psalm 30 ('My lots are in your hands'), exploring the signig7Fcance of in manibus tuis sortes meae , he questions the meaning of 'sortes' ('What are those lots? Why the lots?'; Enarrationes [ Enarr. ] in Ps. 30.2.13).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Enarr. in Ps. 30.2.13
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It developed instead a procedure of popular acclamation for the appointment of bishops, a process that had no parallels in the immediate, contemporary context.”
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In the paper
“Sors describes life circumstance, especially human mortality, and the features of a divinely guided universe.”
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“He sees this as daemonic and fraudulent, though he seems to be targeting a Christian, not a classical, practice.”
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In the paper
“Elsewhere Augustine describes (and critiques) divinatory practices ( De civitate Dei [ De civ. D . ] [ The City of God ] 8.23).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites De civ. D. 8.23
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None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Augustine then proves his claim by adducing the appointment of Matthias:”
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In the paper
“The process was, moreover, fractious and messy (cf. Ambrose in Milan; Silvanus in Cirta), although it potentially co-opted the popular electorate into the emerging system of the church hierarchy and perhaps, although unlikely, subordinated the traditional Roman elites within their respective Christian communities (Rapp 2000, Oliveira 2012).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Rapp 2000
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- Not matchedcites Oliveira 2012
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In the paper
“He also speaks metaphorically of the lot, citing Paul's claim to be inheritors of salvation (23.3) and of particular life circumstance that is apportioned (23.3).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites 23.3
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In the paper
“He speaks concretely of the lot selecting individuals: the division of the tribes of Israel by Moses, the selection of Matthias.”
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In the paper
“In Homily 23, Origen considers the drawing of lots for inheritance among the tribes of Israel ( De ratione sortium, ubi septem capiunt hereditatem ) and develops a contrast between an instrumental or mechanical interpretation versus an understanding of allotment as revealing a larger divine organization of the world and events (21.1).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites 21.1
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In the paper
“Yet Christians in developing processes for the appointment of church leadership did not use allotment, even though they developed the ideology of the bishop as the successor of the apostles (Rapp 2005: 29) and divinely appointed.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Rapp 2005: 29
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In the paper
“When Augustine in the late fourth and early g7Ffth century CE talks about the allotment of Matthias, he does not even think about the election of bishops.”
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In the paper
“And he does not cite the allotment as a precedent for Church election procedure.”
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In the paper
“But sors is repeated throughout the corpus to designate the human fortune to receive the divine gift of eternal life.”
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In the paper
“The lot, like any auspice, gave a permission (Festus p. 380, 382 Lindsay), not a guarantee of success; and the lot, like an omen, was accepted or rejected”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Festus p. 380, 382 Lindsay
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In the paper
“commentators cite Biblical precedents for divinely afg7Frmed allotment”
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In the paper
“but a secular and civic use of sortition is documented only at Rome.”
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In the paper
“The procedure of allotment had deep history in the Roman world.”
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“During the Republic, the lot insulated political decision making from in uences of bloodline or status group.”
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The public allotment was an auspice, or solicited sign, and so formed part of the ritual frameworks legitimating political decision making at Rome.”
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In the paper
“The augurs presided over the allotment and adjudicated any fault in procedure, or vitium”
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The Romans used the lot to determine the order of voting in assemblies; to empanel jurors; to organize the levy and military work; to apportion land assignments among colonists; to assign religious roles; and, most distinctively, to apportion duties among elected public ofg7Fcials.”
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In the paper
“The author of Acts 1:23- 26 describes the selection of Matthias to replace Judas:”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Acts 1:23-26
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Inscriptions show that people throughout the Mediterranean would have recognized allotment as a Roman mechanism for political appointments and would have witnessed Roman allotment in municipal government, for elections and judicial process.”
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In the paper
“Paul and the Pauline texts do not make clear a procedure for selecting church leadership and instead develop language that emphasizes a personal, divine vocation.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites 2 Corinthians 1:1
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- Not matchedcites 1Timothy 3:1-7
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- Not matchedcites Titus 1:7-9
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Tertullian appropriates the language of Roman allotment to translate or explain Christian ideas, and the Christian God becomes the god of the lot.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The appointment of Matthias by lot was a historical action of the g7Frst-generation apostles that contradicted subsequent practice and, by historical lectio difg7Fcilior , suggests an early date for the tradition reported in the text, insofar as subsequent practice developed in opposition to it.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Christian commentators on the appointment of Matthias show a range of views on that allotment.”
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Tacitus thus conceptualizes the allotment as a randomized process, and he evaluates its administrative use instrumentally and rationally as a tool that promoted the Roman value of equity.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Tacitus
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“The appointment of Matthias recorded in Acts, a text traditionally dated to the last quarter of the g7Frst century, comprised a twofold process, an initial selection of two men by the religious community (on the criterion of their having directly witnessed the ministry of Christ) followed by an allotment that identig7Fed the individual as selected by God.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Acts
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“The lot also selected religious personnel and apportioned their duties, and a religious context for that assignment can be documented into the late third century CE .”
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“The second-century CE Didache , addressed to eastern diasporic churches, describes the appointment of bishops and deacons by church leadership, without making clear who selected the candidates or how (15.1- 2)”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Didache 15.1-2
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“Signig7Fcantly, Clement is the g7Frst Christian source to ignore the precedent set by the account of Matthias's selection by lot in Acts, even as he cites scriptural authority to claim that the apostolic method for appointing bishops was a tradition”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians 42:5
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Isaiah 60:17
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Tacitus presents the senatorial view of allotment as a traditional mechanism that mitigated aristocratic competition for political favor and precluded resentment”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Tacitus, Historiae [ Hist. ] [ Histories ] 4.8
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Roman priests were not normally selected by lot, but by co-option or by popular election followed by co-option.”
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Instead, the Church developed a procedure of popular election as 'an expression of the communal consensus' and an ideology of the bishop as 'incarnation of the community.'”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“In short, Didache invokes Acts to describe the appointment of bishops and to conjure up the idea of a personal, divine vocation, but it does not specify any mechanics of their selection, passing over this feature of Acts in silence.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Didache
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Acts
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Thus, the early Christian apocrypha imagined allotment allocating duties among preselected groups of disciples; these imaginings accord with the traditional Roman practice of administrative allotment.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: The apocryphal texts' imagined allotments reflect Roman administrative allotment rather than purely literary invention.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Christians rejected the Roman, and the early Christian, Biblical tradition on allotment to select leadership, even as they carefully selected elements from the appointment of Matthias, to claim adherence to tradition.”
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“For Origen then, the allotment re ected the divine will of a Judeo-Christian god and the allotment selected leadership that was chosen by god.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The appointment of Matthias, arguably the g7Frst apostolic succession, employed allotment, and Christian leaders and communities had precedent and authoritative text to support the appointment of leadership by lot.”
Load-bearingStrength:hedged· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“The contrast reproduces or better parallels Roman thinking on the mechanical versus religious deg7Fnition of allotment (Cicero, Pliny, Tacitus).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Cicero
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Pliny
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Tacitus
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedCausal:correlational· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“That Christian leadership rejected the Roman tradition makes sense, that is, they rejected the secular frameworks of the Roman imperial government against which the Christian communities were developing.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Rejecting Roman allotment was not rejecting a religious belief but rejecting Roman governmental practice and imperial authority, a distinction of particular importance given the recruitment of bishops from among the traditional elite and given the demographic heterogeneity of the developing Church (already evident in Acts).”
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“In a study of Origen's views of leadership, Trigg has argued that Origen distinguished a charismatic leadership selected by God from the leadership selected by the emergent church hierarchy.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Trigg 1981
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The allotment seems in Origen's thought to function as a mechanism that countered the presumptive authority of bishops and the Church, and Origen used Matthias's allotment to develop a critique of ecclesiastical position and authority.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Yet rejection of Roman practice differentiated the Church and its hierarchy from the mundane power structures of the Roman Empire.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Origen develops a distinction g7Frst articulated by his teacher Clement of Alexandria (died 215 CE ).”
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedCausal:direct· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“A focus on allotment documents the complex range of views on divinely ordained leadership and simultaneously illustrates the process of cultural assimilation on the micro level.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Augustine has translated-and redeg7Fned-the concrete lot g7Frst as the indicator of God's will and then by extension as the enduring gift of salvation emanating from God's will.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes? Based: unclearIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Identifying Acts and Matthias's appointment as precedent for contemporary selection of bishops, Cyprian omits to mention the lot and invents the tradition of a divinely sanctioned, popular election of bishops.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes? Based: unclearIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Watching the Christian authors selectively reject and translate the example of Matthias's appointment reveals their deep awareness of Roman and Biblical traditions.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
The paper relies on this without support.
The Roman practice of allotment was sufficiently known and salient to Christian communities that it could motivate their anxiety about allotment to appoint leadership.
“The Roman context and the Roman cultural associations of allotment offer one motive for what will emerge as a Christian anxiety about allotment to appoint leadership.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The apocryphal texts' imagined allotments reflect Roman administrative allotment rather than purely literary invention.
“these imaginings accord with the traditional Roman practice of administrative allotment.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The silence of early Christian texts about the mechanics of selecting leaders indicates a lack of institutionalized procedure or avoidance of the Matthias precedent.
“it does not specify any mechanics of their selection, passing over this feature of Acts in silence.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The Church forbade its priests and leaders from engaging in lot divination and repeatedly condemned the practice in 465, 506, and 511, thereby separating the clerical world of the church leadership from the secular, worldly lives of those who used divination.
“The Church forbade its priests and leaders from engaging in lot divination and repeatedly condemned the practice in 465, 506, and 511, thereby separating the clerical world of the church leadership from the secular, worldly lives of those who used divination.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Origen was eventually declared a heretic.
“The only Christian thinker who proposed actually using the lot to appoint church leadership, Origen was eventually declared a heretic.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The Apocrypha interpret the allotment to appoint a priest as a divine vocation and repeatedly describe allotment as the procedure for dividing duties among church leadership; these texts were excluded from what came to be the corpus of authoritative Christian texts.
“The Apocrypha interpret the allotment to appoint a priest as a divine vocation and repeatedly describe allotment as the procedure for dividing duties among church leadership; these texts were excluded from what came to be the corpus of authoritative Christian texts.”
The paper relies on this without support.
In the fourth century, the church hierarchy was convening as councils and enunciating canons that defined rules for ordination, although it did not regulate the procedure for actually choosing bishops.
“In the fourth century, the church hierarchy was convening as councils and enunciating canons that deg7Fned rules for ordination, although it did not regulate the procedure for actually choosing bishops.”
Citations
Metadata
- Authors
- Stewart, R.
- Corresponding author
- Stewart, Roberta
- Venue
- Oxford Scholarship Online
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Published
- 2017-06-22
- OpenAlex
- W4230473122
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Oxford University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Historical and Religious Studies of Rome
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Classics › Classical Antiquity Studies
- Keywords
- Lot, Matthias, apostolic succession, early Christian bishops, early Christianity, Roman religion
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