The Didache

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7_Sorrows said:
now I am confused. is the word greek then. does it mean teaching or twelve?
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‘Didache’ means 'teaching" in Greek, which is where we get the English word ‘didactic’, with its related meaning. The full title is “The Lord’s Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”

For the benefit of the OP, Didache is was a long-lost book, normally included among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers (the second generation after the apostles). It was believed to be written by Jewish Christians around 50-150. There were many references to it by many of the other church fathers but it remained lost until it was rediscovered in 1873.

Like you, I too found it very interesting and wished it got into the New Testament - would have sorted out a lot of things with the Protestants. Why it was rejected from the NT, I don’t think anyone today knows for sure.
 
zz912 said:
Not if you consider that it was written to established communities. Paul specifically worked so that he was not a burden to the community. This is talking about traveling preachers who are unknown to the community. It also teaches about those that come to stay for much longer time, which is what Paul would have been.

And it only sounds like congregationalists if you think the entire community is the primary recipient for the teaching, instead of the bishops and priests.
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This is exactly correct. The Didache is not catechesis for the layperson as much as it is instruction to leaders.

The fact is that in the very early Church, neighboring bishops would gather with the faithful of another Church and they would elect a bishop. There was a danger of electoral politics and so the practice of appointing bishops by synod quickly became the norm.

Focusing on whether Paul stayed three days or who appointed Bishops is deflection from the obvious teaching contained in the Didache about the Eucharist and Baptism. I know one hard-core Baptist who read the Didache and so began looking at some other early Christian writings. The writings of Polycarp on the Eucharist floored him, and these early writings were the catalyst for his conversion.

Incidentally, a great collection of Early Christian Writings can be found at earlychristianwritings.com/.

-Tim-
 
jimkhong said:
‘Didache’ means 'teaching" in Greek, which is where we get the English word ‘didactic’, with its related meaning. The full title is “The Lord’s Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”

For the benefit of the OP, Didache is was a long-lost book, normally included among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers (the second generation after the apostles). It was believed to be written by Jewish Christians around 50-150. There were many references to it by many of the other church fathers but it remained lost until it was rediscovered in 1873.

Like you, I too found it very interesting and wished it got into the New Testament - would have sorted out a lot of things with the Protestants. Why it was rejected from the NT, I don’t think anyone today knows for sure.
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thank you for your reply jimkhong. do you know anything about the discovery? where was it found and by whom? I will have to look into it further.
 
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