The didache

[Peter_Dawson]

I am getting into the writings of the early fathers. In my first, very rough, research i find the didache was lost and then found some 800(?) years later. How do we know it is the original text? How do we know it should be trusted? Does anyone know when it was written? Does anyone know by whom?

Thank you

We know that the Didache is “the real thing” because it tracks the confessions of faith in the Epistle of Barnabus.

I recollect reading that the Didache dates from very shortly after Christ.

 

[NoelFitz]

Peter

I would not have much confidence in the anonymous text known as the *Epistle of Barnabas, * even though it almost made it into the NT. This text, written possibly around 130 AD, is violently anti-Jewish and rejects the literal meaning of the OT.

 

[NoelFitz]

Rolltide

You have given us a brilliant presentation of early texts.

I am very grateful to you.

 

[David_Zampino]

Peter

I would not have much confidence in the anonymous text known as the *Epistle of Barnabas, * even though it almost made it into the NT. This text, written possibly around 130 AD, is violently anti-Jewish and rejects the literal meaning of the OT.

I recall writing a paper in graduate school (I wish I could find it; that hard drive bit the dust!) for a seminar I was taking on sub-New Testament literature which “nearly” made the canon. The three texts I examined were the Didache, the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, and the Epistle of Barnabas. The conclusion at which I arrived was that of the three, Barnabas was the weakest candidate and Clement was the strongest.

 

[adowcday]

**
adowcday
**
You wrote:

In fact I could find very little about abortion in The Didache, or in any components of the Apostolic Fathers.

All I could find about abortion in the Didache was:

I went back and re-read an online version of the Didache and couldn’t find it either. Sorry.

I was operating from memory of my reading of the Didache from the collection “Early Christian Writings” (Penguin Press) from a couple decades ago. Somewhere in that collection, which also contains the letters of Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, the Martyrdom of Polycarp, etc., there was a statement that Christians should not use spells and potions to prevent conception or expose babies after birth. Can’t remember where I saw it now.

 

[Rolltide]

Here’s a website that EVERYONE should have bookmarked:

EarlyChristianWritings.com
earlychristianwritings.com/

It’s incredibly useful for studying the early church!
(Don’t miss the smaller menu at the top that takes you to Old Testament Apocrypha and Gnostic writings!)

 

[adowcday]

I think the Didache is very important for apologetic and doctrinal purposes. It has a very high view of the eucharist, which evidences the importance of this sacrament for the earliest Christian communities. It discusses such issues as abortion and abortifacients (in addition to exposing children once born). It also discusses itinerant “charismatists” – probably prophets – indicating that the spiritual gifts did not die out with the apostles as is asserted by many evangelicals following the dispensationalist theology of Benjamin Warfield of Princeton in the 19th century. Good stuff.

My translation of the Didache differs from the online versions a bit. Here are the passages that relate to pro-life issues from my copy of the Didache:

Didache 2: “The second commandment in the Teaching means: … Practice no magic, sorcery, abortion or infanticide.”

Didache 5: “Knowledge of the Creator is not in them; they make away with their infants and deface God’s image…”