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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Practicing Primitive Christianity, October 20, 2009
This review is from: The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing & Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community (Paperback)
Before the New Testament was written, much less compiled, the early Christians had to figure out what their community of faith would look like. The Didache (DID-ah-kay) is a document that gives us a glimpse into those early years before creeds (Council of Nicaea- AD 325) were written and church hierarchies and orders were put into place (Constantine- 313) and most likely before any of the Apostle Paul's letters were written.
This small document, which takes about 20 minutes to read, is broken into four parts. It is very possible that these four sections started as separate writings that were later put into one document to make it easier to share with a new follower of Jesus.
* Training in the Way of Life - a teaching on morals (very Jewish)
* The Rhythms of Community Life - including baptism, the Eucharist, fasting and praying
* Visitors Welcome - hospitality to those within and without the community
* The End is Nigh - signs towards the end of days
The document was not considered to be sacred and was not added to the cannon of the New Testament, but that does not make the contents unimportant. The writing has very little to do with theology- what to think about God; instead the focus is on how believers should live with each other.
In recent years the Didache has primarily been studied in academic circles. Author Tony Jones and Paraclete Press have partnered together to make it available again, and they have done with an interesting approach. Jones found a community of believers in Missouri that have been studying the Didache to understand the early Christians' approach to community and implementing it into their lives today.
"The Teaching of the Twelve" starts with a history lesson of the manuscript, provides the actual text, and gives background to both the early Christians who followed these guidelines as well as the believers in Missouri that emulating them. This is followed by a chapter of commentary on each of the four sections. I found the writing to be encouraging and thought provoking and certainly worth discussing in communities of faith today.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bad news for haters, February 5, 2010
This review is from: The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing & Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community (Paperback)
I've got bad news for Tony Jones haters. There's nothing to hate about his latest book, The Teaching of the Twelve. In fact, you may love it.
Last week, I finished reading his little book about the little book, the Didache. The didache is a book that dates back to the ancient church but didn't quite make it into the cannon of Scripture. Unlike some of its contemporaries, it didn't make it in because it was steeped in gnosticism... instead the didache likely didn't make it in because it didn't provide deep theological teachings, warnings, or narrative about Jesus. It's not really a letter or narrative at all. Authorship is also unclear. Instead, it's a group of teachings- probably from various authors- that baptismal candidates likely studied before being accepted as Christians in a small town in the first century.
In other words, the Didache (greek word meaning teaching) is a practical guide for living in community with other believers. That's an area I am growing. I've spent the last 10 years teaching on and focusing on individualistic growth in relationship to God. All the while, I've been fascinated by books about first century Christians, Essenes, the Qumran community, and early church history. There was a contradiction there between the individualistic faith of American believers and the community faith I read about in the first century. I have long been trying to figure out how to rectify the two as there is a gulf of difference between what we do today and what was practiced then. Deep down, the Holy Spirit has stirred in me a desire to figure out how we can do life together. I don't have it figured out... but I'm on a journey of discovery towards figuring it out.
Like a lot of conservative Evangelicals, I tend to approach books by Tony Jones with my ears finely tuned to look for a twist to something traditional about his hermeneutic. For some reason I'm left looking for the agenda behind his words. I don't know where this started... but it was something I carried into buying and reading this book. My radar was finely tuned!
So, for those haters, here is the bad news. Tony's latest book approaches Scripture in a thoughtful, academically pure way. It reads the same as many of the scholarly texts places like Dallas Theological Seminary, Wheaton Graduate School, or Trinity Evangelical Divinity School would require of New Testament students. He doesn't lift the didache up as Scriptural, rather uses this groups application of Apostolic teachings to explain how that culture was applying early Christian teachings. Even when the text permits him to hypothesize to tear away at traditional Christian values, he instead affirms them. When the text talks about a pre-millenial view of the community in the first century, he doesn't try to spin it to another viewpoint... instead affirms what the text makes clear, that community looked forward to the imminent return of the risen Christ.
Conservative haters are left with nothing to hate. In fact, I think a lot of my friends need to read this book as we all figure out... "What does it mean to live in community as believers?" Yeah, we need to learn. Yeah, we may just be doing community wrong. Gasp! The horror!
I will leave you with the same encouragement that lead to me buying this book in the first place. Before you hate, before you criticize, before you call names, take the time to read for yourself. Read it, like I did, with a critical eye. Then, when you go to critique, you can do so intelligently. But my feeling is that if you actually read the Teaching of the Twelve, you'll be as impressed as I have been with the treatment.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An ancient community speaks clearly today, November 16, 2009
This review is from: The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing & Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community (Paperback)
"But the time has come for this ancient document to inspire its intended audience: those starting out in their faith" (14). Thus you and I, people interested in the development of others and our encouragement for them to engage Scripture on a higher level, find a partner in this book, giving newcomers an excellent way to begin reading and comprehending biblical truth in a short, 20-minute read (the Didache) and a clear commentary in this excellent book. I am a slow reader and I consumed it in one sitting in about 2 hours--be of good cheer, slow readers. You'll love this book.
"...the Didache is a book entirely consumed with a Christianity that is both everyday and ordinary" (15). This is the Christianity we live and encourage others to live. A faith based solely upon emotional manipulation is a faith that makes it though summer camp and three weeks into the school year for high school kids.
Youth pastors, listen up; this book effectively teaches what it is to live the Christian life every day, drawing the distinctions between right and wrong, "a way of life that was fundamentally concerned with love of God, love of others, self-control in matters of sex and money, and orderly worship. In other words, the new Christians had nothing to hide" (59).
We are reminded "what is truly important in Christianity: showing the love of Jesus to the world" (18). While not Canon, the Didache and Tony's excellent translation and commentary, are a boost of encouragement from the early church, whose voices ring out just as clearly today as they did nearly 2,000 years ago. Thanks Tony.
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