| Index |
Commentary |
Discussion |
References |
| Commentary - The Didache and how it tells us of The Jesus Movement and the Jerusalem
Church - Jock |
Wilson reviews well the beginnings of the Christian Community, showing
it to be a sect within the Jewish Community. They like Jesus were practicing
Jews.
A most favourite early work of mine is the Didache (The Teaching). I came
across mention of it about 20 years ago in a history of the Mennonites
called "A String of Amber" by Blodwen Davies. Miss Blodwen found
evidence that the Mennonites did not consider themselves Ana-Baptists.
Rather this community of thought within the Protestant Reformation adopted
them, but they considered themselves apostolic and dissident from other
Churches. She found memories of an ancient teaching they had passed along
verbally, that was harmonious with a teaching refound in 1873 within the
Greek Orthodox monastery libraries.
But recent focused critical scholarship is giving the Didache a rather
greater importance. It may be the oldest Christian writing we have - perhaps
as early as 49 CE. It may contain the major part of a writing attributed
to James the Great (Jesus brother, the head of the Jerusalem Church).
In any event it is a seminal document causing some excitement in Biblical
circles principally because it tells us about these earliest times. It
speaks to the heart of the difference Wilson is telling us about, the initial
Jewish nature of the early Jesus Movement, and its transition to a Gentile
membership.
The Didache is primarily intended as a guide of ethics and living to Gentiles
interested in the Jesus Movement. It forgives the need for strict Torah
following.
Aaron Milavec is a principle scholar on the Didache, and some of his work
is linked below. Here is an excerpt from his paper "When, why and for whom was the Didache Created?".
In closing, I would say that the Didache has a special relevance within
our modern society. Any community that cannot artfully and effectively
pass on its cherished way of life as a program for divine wisdom and graced
existence cannot long endure. Any way of life that cannot be clearly specified,
exhibited, and differentiated from the alternative modes operative within
the surrounding culture is doomed to growing insignificance and to gradual
assimilation. Faced with these harsh realities, the Didache unfolds the
training program calculated to irreversibly alter the habits of perception
and standards of judgment of novices coming out of a pagan life style.
The content and the modality of this process of human transformation can
be gleaned from the verbal clues conveyed within the text itself. Once
this is established, then it becomes possible to combine linguistic, historical,
and sociological tools to recover the faith, hope, and life of those communities
that existentially committed themselves to living the Way of Life. This
is the way of scholarship. This is the way of life.
I read the first half of it to the class. I encourage you all to read it.
Link.
enjoy!
Supplemental Note by Wayne - Clarification of the term "Didache"
It means "Teaching" and as a docuemnt it emerged early in the
life of the Christian community, probably before any of the Gospels were
written; when many of the NT letters were being circulated; and before
any known creedal statements were formulated. The "Didache" served
as a primer for new Christians. It gives advice about living the "Way
of Jesus" - so that it's focus was not on 'beliefs' but on 'behaviours.'
|
| Summary of Discussion Notes |
Questions for Discussion Groups
1. What can we learn from the lost Jesus traditions?
2. Since we understand that the first Christians were Jews, what meanings can we take from this?
Feedback from Groups:
We have a 'sense of relief' that we can learn from the 'lost traditions' existing beyond the 'known traditions' of our Christian heritage. This helps to clarify that the Christian message is not one - but a plurality - of truths.
We now see that the inherited, classic Christian view of Christ is an artifact (a human construct amoung many human constructs) which was invented by humans to describe something unique with the appearance of Jesus. While a classic interpretation was defined by certain authorities as "orthodox" Christianity, we see that various interpretations of Jesus exist. By investigating these traditions we can gain a fuller, more complete understanding of who Jesus really was.
The invention of the "divine Christ" (which Wilson attributes to Paul) added, but also took a lot away from what Jesus actually brought us when he walked this earth.
|
| References Related to Chapter One |
The
Didache
(Video) |
In the YouTube excerpt video "Jesus vs Paul - True Christianity vs
False Paulinity, from the documentary "The Secret Family of Jesus",
Robert Beckford travels to Jerusalem to the The Library of the Greek Patriarch
and is the first to film the Didache. A worthy piece and a glimpse of a
treasure. |
| The Didache |
The Teaching of the Lord, by the Twelve Apostles, to the Gentiles. It's
only 4 pages long. Perhaps the best free standing summary of the Gospel
there has ever been. And it's perhaps the earliest. |
Didache
-Garrow |
Alan Garrow is the Scholar who translated the above version, and who proposes
it may contain the "Apostolic Decree" from the Jerusalem Church.
His site is unusual but an excellent teaching site. |
Free
Didache
Resources |
Here is an amazing long list of Didache related stuff. Quite a bit of it
is on line and linked. If ever you want an example of theology being concerned
with "how many angels dance on the head of a pin" this could
be it. Nevertheless an interesting place. |
| The Didache |
The Wikipedia entry. This is the mainstream and older idea of this ancient work. |
|
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