The inimitable Carol Showalter, marketing guru at Paraclete Press, put this blog tour together, and she had the good sense to ask Jonathan Brink to ponder a special question: Is this text – The Didache – really so important? Why? Do we know that it was important to the earliest communities of Christians? Jonathan answers that question in the affirmative, and in two parts. First, The Didache focuses on what it means to be a follower through action, as opposed... Read more
Luke Miller takes a look at the epilogue of The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community. Although at first skeptical, he ultimately embraced the Didache, You won’t often see me advocating for a return to the old-time religion. I’m dubious of those who preach about the need to get back to the first-century church. What we need is to figure out how to be a faithful church today, in 2009 (though... Read more
At Jesus Creed, Scot has first asked, then responded to a question posted by Dan Wallace at Parchment and Pen. The bottom line of the discussion is this: Is there a bias in the academy, particularly graduate studies, against students from evangelical schools? I have a couple thoughts. First, my experience. I went to a secular, Ivy League university for undergraduate studies, majoring in Classics and adept in history, archaeology, Greek, and Latin. From there I went directly to an... Read more
Well, you should. It’s a daily round-up of news and blogs from around the Christian world, representing a wide variety of perspectives. Add it to your blogroll. Read more
A couple more bloggers have written up the final chapter (“The End Is Nigh”) in The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community. They both point to modern apocalyptic media to elucidate the brief apocalypse at the end of the Didache. Mike Stavlund writes of a professor assigning the Lord of the Flies in an effort to introduce undergrads to the metaphorical power of apocalypses. He then writes, Taking a mere 20... Read more
As we approach the celebration of Christ’s incarnation, John Franke has written a piece for Christianity Today, inspired by his latest book, Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth, that tackles Jesus as “the way,” “the truth,” and “the life,” while maintaining his postmodern posture towards certainty. Jesus Christ is the living embodiment of God’s gracious character as the One who loves. This love is not an abstract notion or a set of feelings, but is rather characterized by the action... Read more
Over at Subversive Influence, Brother Maynard has written a thorough and wonderful reflection on The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community, the sixth chapter of which is, “Living Together in Community.” The Didache has a lot to say about how a Christian community should get along. In fact, it can be argued that the entire document is really a manual for church harmony. Bro Maynard does a great job of walking... Read more
Although this is a couple weeks old, I cannot but post it here for your edification: Read more
A wonderful post yesterday on The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community, by Mike Todd at Waving or Drowning. They’re tackling Chapter Five, “Sex, Money, and Other Means of Getting Along.” The Didache speaks often of sex, and of money, and I spend some effort in this chapter of the book laying out the context of both in the ancient world. In order to understand any ancient document, be it the... Read more
Yesterday, Holly Rankin Zaher and Tripp Fuller both weighed in on The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community. Their assignment was to reflect on Chapter Four, “There Are Two Ways.” Holly is a committed youth pastor, and has been for years. It’s from that perspective that she writes, In my context of a youth ministry trying to live out the way of Jesus, I can’t help but wonder what our confirmation... Read more
Theoblogy
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In