Coragyps

This may really be merely a short rant, as I think I know the reasons for what I will describe.
The new testament, to my knowledge, only specifically talks about two "officials" of the church: bishops and deacons. 1st Timothy and Titus give qualifications for these folks. Elders and ministers get mentioned, but the former seems to refer to old, wise men, and the latter to (bishops + elders) or some such. "Pastor" doesn't make it into the King James NT at all.
Now think about the Fundamentalist churches in the US: Baptist in its many flavors, Church of Christ, Pentecostal, Church of God, Anderson, Indiana or CoG Cleveland, Tennessee (no, I didn't make those two up!), Foursquare Gospel, etc. They each claim to be Bible-believing, New Testament preaching possessors of the Truth, but how many of them have even a single bishop? Deacons, yes, but not a bishop in a trainload of denominations! (Some predominately black churches, like the African Methodist Episcopal, are both fairly fundamentalist and have bishops.)
Now how can an "inerrantist" church willfully ignore a direct scriptural order to have a particular office in their church? My guess, which maybe one of you historians can confirm, is that the fundies won't have 'em because those apostate Catholics do have 'em. (Of course, Catholics have deacons, too...) I can't imagine that they translate episcopos as "minister;" but why couldn't they just translate it literally as "overseer" and call their head guy that?
I'd appreciate any feedback on reasons, historical or imagined, for this strange word-avoidance. I can imagine using it in a argument with a literalist who has to have creation in six days, though: "What is your bishop's position on this important issue?"

sullster

I think that the short answer to your query lies with the facts of the Protestant Reformation.
Fundamentalist sects were born in the cauldron of the Reformation where any comparison to the Roman Catholic Church was rejected even if there were biblical contradictions.
The ideologues of the Reformation were zealous in stripping their new religion of any ritual or hierarchial structure that was associated with the catholic church. Obviously, bishops would be high on the list.

The English sect who were known as "Puritans", who polluted colonial America with fundamentalism, included being "pure" of catholic ritual in their definition of purity.
Scratch a fundy, find an anti-catholic.

Amos

Very good sulster! This includes making Sunday the first day of the week so as to put God first in the life of every American (European calendars have Sunday as the seventh day of the week). It includes driving on the other side of the road, their own system of measurement and everything else they could think of. If need be, they would rewrite the bible and are still burning because of it. The only difference is that their death at the stake is slower today (they die there in repentance with the burning desire for atonement).

sullster

Amos, you sly fox. Scratch an Amos get an anti-protestant. Actually, you don't even have to be scratched!

I did not mean to give aid and comfort to your catholic extemism by pointing out why there are no fundy bishops. That you and I may agree on various points about protestantism and the Reformation doesn't mean I have a molecule of support for your version of the myths.

Oddly enough, the English puritans were very severe in their judgements over who were their clergy. Using their Lutheran idea of ,"priesthood of all believers", they didn't put up with ministers they didn't like. This concept had political consequences for the American ideas of government. The people could throw out a nasty leader.
Compare this to your hierarchial and dictatorial catholic church where priests, bishops, arch-bishops, cardinals and popes are beyond the control of the ignorant masses. Sounds like fascist Spain, doesn't it? It is no coincidence that democratic regimes arose in protestant countries. But I stray here.

One last thing, your mention of burning at the state is very disturbing even as a metaphor.