Book Description

The Didache, or Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles, is an important source for our knowledge of early Christianity. The Didache demonstrates that we should understand nascent Christianity and early Judaism as sharing to a large extent the same traditions. The volume throws fresh light on the Jewishness of the Two Ways teaching in Didache 1-6. It presents a cautious reconstruction of the Jewish prototype of the Two Ways and traces the Jewish life situation in which the instruction could emerge and flourish. This attempt is important, as it provides us with a Jewish source (and its transmission) underlying Christian and Jewish writings. For example, it is shown how acquaintance with these traditional materials benefits our perception of the antithetical section in Matthew 5:17-48. In the field of liturgical studies, a significant contribution is made to the discussion of Didache 7-10. It improves our understanding of the Jewish provenance and historical development of Baptism and the Eucharist. The book also presents an intriguing look into the redactional stages behind the materials about church discipline. The ministry of itinerant apostles and prophets moving from town to town, and their settling down in the community, is considered in the perspective of the larger environment of Jewish religious and cultural history. This volume will prove indispensable for all those engaged in the study of early Judaism, the New Testament, Patristics, the origins of Christian liturgy, and early Church history in general.