This book offers an innovative examination of the question: why did early Christians begin calling their ministerial leaders -priests- (using the terms hiereus/sacerdos)? Scholarly consensus has typically suggested that a Christian -priesthood- emerged either from an imitation of pagan priesthood or in connection with seeing the Eucharist as a sacrifice over which a -priest- must preside. This work challenges these claims by exploring texts of the third and fourth century where Christian bishops and ministers are first designated -priests-: Tertullian and Cyprian of Carthage, Origen of...