Customer Reviews

The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and Commentary

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In recent years there has been an enormous explosion of interest in Gnostic Christian texts such as "The Gospel of Thomas" and "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene". Almost overlooked in this fascination with early, non-canonical (i.e., omitted from the Bible) Christian texts has been The Didache ("The Teaching"), a "training manual" for Gentile converts to an early Jewish-Christian community. (Most scholars date "The Didache" to about 90-120 A.D., but Milovec opts for an earlier date between 50-80 A.D.)

"The Didache" is a manual of initiation, not theology, but Milovec attempts to read between the lines to discern glimpses of the underlying theology. Although Milovec's speculations sometime stray a bit too far from the available evidence, I think he is basically correct in seeing "The Didache" as reflecting a Jewish-Christian community who viewed Jesus primarily in prophetic and messianic terms, and not as the literal God incarnate of later Christian theology. Of particular interest in this context are the eucharistic prayers found in "The Didache," prayers which do not reflect the "this is my body . . . this is my blood" phraseology of the New Testament sources. Also, "The Didache" provides perhaps the earliest specific Christian condemnation of abortion, and reiterates the Pauline critique of homosexuality (or, at least, one form of it, characterized as "the corruption of boys"). Thus "The Didache" perhaps has relevance to today's "What would Jesus say?" debates.

What gives "The Didache" credibility to me is its absence of Gnostic influence and its general similarity in language to the gospels, "The Acts of the Apostles," and the "Letter of James". In fact, it's emphasis on morality and its absence of high Christology (Jesus as God, Jesus as atoning for the sins of the world), seems to place it in the Jamesian tradition stemming from the Jewish Christian community centered in Jerusalem.

In my opinion (and that of most scholars), the Gnostic gospels are relatively late 2nd century creations that tell us little about Jesus or his earliest group of followers. "The Didache" provides a better window into that world, and I recommend it highly. Milovec loses one star for a little bit of over-speculation and for a writing style that is not particularly captivating. Still, he gets four stars for a basically solid book (supported with the original Greek text and ample-but-not-exhausting discussion of translation issues) that casts needed light on an early Christian text that has been too often neglected.

While Milavec does do well in lifting up the implications of the text for the lives of women, and it is the most inexpensive commentary on the Didache available, I found his work to be full of a number of unexamined (or undefended, anyway) sociological and theological assumptions about the life of the community that produced the Didache. To give just one example, he presumes that the "prophets" referred to in the text were economic refugees with a primarily (entirely?) class-justice agenda, all with little explicit grounds in the Didache itself. But given obvious affinities with the language of the Gospel of Matthew and its even clearer Jewish-Christian milieau, isn't it just as likely that these "prophets" were the respected Christian leaders the text indicates they are (meaning they preached social justice as one part of the overall good news of Jesus and God's kingdom), and that they were understood to (or actually did!) hear the voice of God for the benefit of the community?
For only five bucks more, the Ancient Christian Writers series volume 6 (edited by James Kleis) or "Apostolic Fathers" by Michael Holmes gives both a translation and an introduction not only to the Didache but also many other early Church documents, though their commentary is not nearly as extensive as Milavec.
Somewhat pricier but worth it for a more thorough and balanced understanding, I would strongly recommend either of Van de Sandt's works ("The Didache: Its Jewish Sources" is a detailed scholarly commentary, while "Matthew and the Didache" is a collection of essays), or the paperback edition of Marcello del Verme's "Didache and Judaism."

Here is high quality scholarly work on a shelf reachable by an average Sunday School teacher! The book has greek text one the left (average SS teachers may skip this ;-) and his own english translation on the right, for the 16 chapters of the Didache. His delightful commentary follows and gives the reader a quick grasp of the basic use of the Didache as a first century oral means of "membership training" under a "membership mentor." After reading this short book most hungry minds will want even more. Thanks to DaVinci Code the laity are interested in works that did not make the Canon-cut... the Didache (and Clement I) are considerably more helpful reading than books by Dobson, Hybels, Rick Warren (or me). Aaron Milavec has helped the ordinary person understand the early church through study of the Didache --Keith Drury, Associate Professor of Religion, Indiana Wesleyan University

If you are interested in understanding Jesus better, and you've already studied the gospels in depth, I highly recommend reading the Didache. It re-words the teachings of Jesus in the language of another group of early Christinas. This gives those of us who have read the gospels a million times a fresh appreciation of Jesus' teachings and the variety of early Christian interpretations. As a result I felt a spiritual bond with these early followers who were trying to pass the teachings of Jesus on, just like I am.

If you are looking for the best Didache translation, this is the one we used at Yale Divinity School so I am sure it is one of the best.

"... Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles has continued to be one of the most disputed of early Christian texts. It has been depicted by scholars as anything between the original of the Apostolic Decree and a late archaising fiction of the early third century." J. Draper, Gospel Perspectives



Didache, Church Manual:
The Didache (Greek; the teaching, a word related to Didactic). An ancient Church manual, that drew upon early Church traditions, repeatedly revised, it existed in varying forms at various communities. The Didache was a sort of church catechetical instruction book for novice Christians, probably in rural areas, remote from metropolis, mostly dependent on traveling preaching ministers. The subjects, style and source material of the Didache make of it one of the most disputed Early Church texts, hard to determine either a date of composition or a point of origin.
The 'Teaching of the Two Ways' were included in the first six chapters, followed by four sections of liturgical practices. Five chapters followed on disciplinary matters for the congregation, and presbyters (prophets, bishops, and deacons.) A concluding encouragement to stay faithful until the second coming, posts a warning against the antichrist.

Didache's Development:
Fragments of the Didache (Papyrus No. 1782) were found at Oxyrhyncus, upper Egypt from the 4th century, and in a Coptic translation from 3rd or 4th century. Quotations showing traces of this instruction text are widespread in the writings of the second and third centuries, in Syria and Egypt. This testifies to the wide use and the high regard it enjoyed. It was used by the compiler of the Didaskalia (Ca 2/3rd) and referred to by the Liber Graduun (Ca 3/4th), as well as being absorbed by the Apostolic Constitutions (Ca 3/4th) and by various Egyptian and Ethiopian Church Orders, partly.
Athanasius describes it as 'appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us, and who wish for instruction in the word of goodness' [Festal Letter 39:7]. Hence a date for the Didache in its present form later than the second century must be considered unlikely.
The Greek 'Apostolic Constitutions' with many references to the Didache, was revised and edited with supporting Scriptures, and endorsed with church traditions, to form the 'Ecclesiastical Canons of the Apostles'. Arabic versions, after becoming the state language in Syria and Egypt, both add and subtract from the Didache. Hence after, it ceased to circulate as authoritative.

Milavec's Commentary:
As a complementary overview to his lengthy academic tome: 'The Didache: Faith, Hope, & Life (of the Earliest Christian Communities, 50-70 C.E.), of over a thousand pages, Aaron Milavec provides a concise analytical commentary which uncovers the unity of its topics and governs their progression. The early Church communities in Alexandria and Antioch, where these instructions are suspected to have built up, constituted of a majority of Diaspora Jews who converted to Christianity while preserving the Therapeutae liturgical practices, including the use of the Septuagint. These were slowly joined by their Gentile neighbors.
Milavec utilizes literary tools and insights of social tradition to reconstruct the challenges and anxieties of the early church community of faith and hope, figuring out how the converts trained in liturgical rituals towards a participant group discipline.

This short book is highly recommended for anyone interested in understanding the development of the early Christian church. I read with fascination about the practices of one early group. At least some of the writings must date back to the very earliest years when there were several distinct "Jesus sects", probably before the writings of Paul were well known. Specifically, I found that the text for the eucharist (Section 9) is truly a thanksgiving, without the Christology of the later church added. (The word "eucharist" comes from the Greek for "thanks".) However, one can find traces of later additions, such as the Trinity added in Section 7. Thus we can see layers as the church developed.

Milavec has a good introduction to the material, and then gives a strong argument for why the Didache is organized as it is.

This book is required reading in our Permanent Diaconate training program. I found it to be a very easy read without any of the difficulties of ancient language to get in the way of your reading or understanding. I found myself saying "Yes, of course! I know that!" as I read every line, but the key to understanding the greatness of this text is to remember that it was written before any of the canonical scriptures in today's Bible. It was written down after many years of being passed from small early Christian group to another. It was really a training manual for newcomers to Christian communities.

Not only did I enjoy the ancient text--by the way the early Greek from which it is translated appears on the left page with modern English on the right-I found the analysis that follows to be crisp and concise, lending a level of understanding that I probably would have missed had the analysis not close at hand. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand the roots of early Christian teaching that pre-dates the Bible.

The translation is quite adequate, the commentary . . . not so much.

The introduction closes with the most laughable paragraph included in any book that I actually own.

Included are prayers to trees to forgiveness, an equation with virtually all modern industry with "The Way of Death", a more than comic helping of self-loathing, and a warning that poor children in the Pacific Northwest may have to bathe in polluted water because of the paper mills (no, even in Washington, are there people so poor that they must bathe out of doors-- while there are some who do, but out of mental illness). Upon reading such drivel, I thought it more than likely that the author wrote it in lip-stick on his bathroom wall.

I am sorry to be so rude to the author of such a competent translation, but I can't help it because it is just so wickedly absurd.

Priceless for every Christian, the first extant Catechism records the Apostolic Teaching that they received from the Twelve Apostles detailing the customs regarding eucharizing on the Sunday, Absolute abolition of abortion, qualifications for being a Bishop and how one is to behave and receive the travelling missionary's. Teaching on Baptism and the term of the catechist. Very helpful in understanding the life of the Earliest Church of Assyria provided in both the Greek and English Translations by Milavec.

This is a rich and compelling job of scholarship. The Didache is from a time in the very early Christian church that is frequently overlooked in favor of the gospels. Dr. Milavec's commentary culls from many sources, but also communicates the excitement and the stresses of that early Christian community, and makes it seem human, immediate, and very close to us in many ways.