Interested in the early church?

[kaufmannphillip]

Hello! I am writing from the Portland, OR, metro area.

Are you interested in learning more about the early church? I am interested in getting together with an informal group to study the Didache, a Christian document that was used to teach converts in the early church. This document gives valuable insight into the ethical concerns and community life of early Christians. The flavor of the Didache is strongly Jewish, and it may be of interest to people who study "Hebrew roots." It is not a gnostic text.

I am a former member of the clergy and onetime college professor in religious studies. My own faith is Jewish, but I have an interest in the early Christian movement. As you might imagine, I am hoping for a group that can discuss differing ideas freely and respectfully. Nevertheless, I am interested in giving attention to both the spiritual and historical dimensions of the Didache.

If you're interested in this kind of a study, please drop me a line and tell me a bit about yourself. I hope we can get something going beginning next month. In the meantime, I have a website up at http://didache.us that gives some introductory materials. Please feel welcome to visit!

Thanks!

[FreezBee]

Are you interested in learning more about the early church? I am interested in getting together with an informal group to study the Didache, a Christian document that was used to teach converts in the early church. This document gives valuable insight into the ethical concerns and community life of early Christians. The flavor of the Didache is strongly Jewish, and it may be of interest to people who study "Hebrew roots." It is not a gnostic text.

Hello kaufmannphillip;

I do have some interest in Didache. As I have understood it, the early Christians had a distinction between kerygma, the initial introduction to Christianity with the purpose of making people interested, and didache was then the subsequent teaching of the convert. So the text ought to give a reasonably good picture of Christian communities in the beginning of the 2nd century (I believe to remember it's dated there).

It's interesting that you say that it's very Jewish. Not to argue against you (I have no qualifications for that); but can you be more explicit about that?


- FreezBee

[Amazing Rando]

Hello kaufmannphillip;

I do have some interest in Didache. As I have understood it, the early Christians had a distinction between kerygma, the initial introduction to Christianity with the purpose of making people interested, and didache was then the subsequent teaching of the convert.

Sounds about right. :yes: The Didache has been called the first Christian catechism, and it certainly appears to be like a discipleship training manual.


So the text ought to give a reasonably good picture of Christian communities in the beginning of the 2nd century (I believe to remember it's dated there).

I've heard some excellent arguments that suggest the Didache may have even been contemporary with the composition of the gospel of Matthew, so even perhaps the AD 70s-80's. :nsm:

It's interesting that you say that it's very Jewish. Not to argue against you (I have no qualifications for that); but can you be more explicit about that?


- FreezBee

I think by describing the Didache as "Jewish," he didn't mean "Jewish" in the modern sense- that is, "not Christian," because the Didache shows all the hallmarks of being a product of a thoroughly Christian community. I get the feeling describing it as a "Jewish" simply reflects the fact that it comes from a very early stage of the development of the Christian faith, when it was still thought of as a subset of Judaism. In that sense, all of the New Testament documents are "Jewish," because they all exhibit the same sense of altered Jewish worldview. Like the Didache, they all took the Jewish worldview of their authors, and modified it with the realization that the long expected Messiah had indeed come, and that the hope of Israel had been fulfilled, although in a way nobody had been expecting.

To describe the Didache as "Jewish" means that like the NT documents, it still operates under mostly Jewish thought categorgies, without any of the pagan Gentile (and especially neo-Platonic) ideas which came to infiltrate the faith a few centuries later.

[FreezBee]

I've heard some excellent arguments that suggest the Didache may have even been contemporary with the composition of the gospel of Matthew, so even perhaps the AD 70s-80's. :nsm:

Interesting :thumb: That would make it very earlly. I've read that the gospel of Matthew can be divided into sections for liturgical use - if Didache and the GMatthew are contemporary, they might even have been used together?

I think by describing the Didache as "Jewish," he didn't mean "Jewish" in the modern sense- that is, "not Christian," because the Didache shows all the hallmarks of being a product of a thoroughly Christian community. I get the feeling describing it as a "Jewish" simply reflects the fact that it comes from a very early stage of the development of the Christian faith, when it was still thought of as a subset of Judaism. In that sense, all of the New Testament documents are "Jewish," because they all exhibit the same sense of altered Jewish worldview. Like the Didache, they all took the Jewish worldview of their authors, and modified it with the realization that the long expected Messiah had indeed come, and that the hope of Israel had been fulfilled, although in a way nobody had been expecting.

To describe the Didache as "Jewish" means that like the NT documents, it still operates under mostly Jewish thought categorgies, without any of the pagan Gentile (and especially neo-Platonic) ideas which came to infiltrate the faith a few centuries later.

Ok, that would explain it quite well. Thanks!


- FreezBee

[Amazing Rando]

Interesting :thumb: That would make it very earlly. I've read that the gospel of Matthew can be divided into sections for liturgical use - if Didache and the GMatthew are contemporary, they might even have been used together?


That might be! :nsm: I'm assuming you've read over the Didache, right? Just for a fun exercise, try to read over the first half of the Didache, and see what sorts of echoes you hear from the gospel of Matthew, particularly from the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7). There are quite a few!

I think that what this might mean is not that the person who wrote the Didache had access to Matthew when he was writing, but rather that both drew upon the commonly known teachings of Jesus which were circulating orally at the time. At least that's my best guess!

[kaufmannphillip]

Hello, gentlefolks,

I apologize for not responding sooner. I was not previously notified by the automated service that there had been responses.

I have started up a website for the local study at the following address:

http://didache.us

At that site I have a brief and far from exhaustive introduction to the document. It includes evidence that I have identified for ascribing a Jewish flavor to the document.

If either are you are local to the Portland Metro area, you would be very welcome to participate in the study. If you are not local, but are interested, I will try to be posting the gleanings from the sessions on a quasi-weekly basis once we get running (sometime next month).

Thank you for your interest!

Emmet