A couple new reviews of The Teaching of the Twelve<\/a><\/em> were posted this week.\u00a0 The first, by Wes Ellis<\/a>, is positive.\u00a0 Wes particularly likes the modern translation<\/a> of the Didache that we\u2019ve provided, and calls that the best chapter of the book.\u00a0 He goes on to write,<\/p>\n How does this fit in with Jones\u2019 other works?<\/p>\n This question only needs to be asked because Jones usually writes about the Emerging Church and he usually stays away from such involved studies of ancient texts. So why does he care about the Didache<\/em>? Jones says himself that \u201cit represents a lost version of Christianity, and one that many of us long to get back to\u201d (page 121 from the Epilogue). Jones, in all of his endeavors, is on the lookout for not only a fresh perspective but also for a way of getting back to the roots of the Church and he seems to have found both in this ancient forgotten text and in the community call the Cymbrogi.<\/p>\n For anyone interested in the Didache<\/em>, this is a great read.<\/p>\n The second, by Bob Hyatt<\/a>, is less positive.<\/p>\n Bob and I have had our theological and ecclesiological disagreements over the years, so it didn\u2019t shock me that he thinks that I overplayed the Didache\u2019s relevance to the modern church in the book.\u00a0 He writes,<\/p>\n The Didache, while interesting, is just not all that<\/em> great. I mean\u2026 it\u2019s a fascinating glimpse into early Christianity but not terribly poetic, insightful, or inspiring\u2026 it\u2019s largely a list of do\u2019s and don\u2019ts.<\/p>\n He goes on to write that the New Testament is far more interesting and rewarding, and that without the New Testament, the Didache would be a pretty uninspiring document.\u00a0 And I agree.\u00a0 For instance, Trucker Frank refers to the Didache as the Rosetta Stone of the New Testament for him and his community.\u00a0 What I think he means by that is the Didache serves to give them an extrabiblical lens, written contemporaneously with the New Testament, that allows them to better understand the New Testament.<\/p>\n I take no exception with Bob to this point.\u00a0 But then he goes on to write,<\/p>\n While I very much appreciate the desire to wrestle with early conceptions of Christianity, to study, discern and live out orthopraxy, I can\u2019t help but think: Are these folks taking the New Testament<\/strong> this seriously?<\/em> And if not, why not? Regardless of your view of inspiration, high or low, or whatever, the New Testament is AT LEAST as authoritative as the Didache, right?<\/p>\n And I don\u2019t know how to read this except as a jab at my own view of scripture.\u00a0 What I think this betrays is that Bob brought his own biases against my previous work into my book on the Didache, because nowhere in The Teaching of the Twelve do I even come close to implying that the Didache is \u201cinspired\u201d or authoritative in the same sense as the Hebrew and Christian scriptures<\/strong>.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know exactly to whom Bob is asking his rhetorical question, but if Trucker Frank or I are included in \u201cthese folks,\u201d then I can assure Bob and any other doubters that, yes, we take the New Testament seriously.\u00a0 In fact, we take the Old Testament seriously, too.<\/p>\n Finally, to the criticism that my book paints the Didache community as practicing some pure, unadulterated Christianity that has since been corrupted by 2,000 years of churchianity, I don\u2019t imply that in the book, either.\u00a0 In fact, unlike another one of Bob\u2019s foils<\/a>, I am far more likely to quote a medieval or modern theologian to help me explicate scripture, than I am to state that the Bible itself lays out a clear picture of ecclesiology.<\/p>\n But I do think that the Didache gives us an intriguing glimpse into the very earliest Christian church, one that didn\u2019t even yet have (many of) the biblical texts nor any clergy class.\u00a0 It\u2019s unlike all of the other ante-Nicene writings, in that it is uninterested in doctrine, and it is neither Gnostic (like the pseudepigraphical<\/a> Gospels) nor apocalyptic (like the early martyrdom narratives).\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t make the Didache inspired, but it does make it unique<\/em>.\u00a0 And, as such, it is extremely important to our understanding of the first Christians and, consequently, of the New Testament.<\/strong><\/p>\n My thanks to both Wes and Bob for posting reviews.\u00a0 I look forward to more people reading and interacting with the book.<\/p>\n Online Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n Previously: Adam<\/a>, Thomas<\/a>, and me<\/a> on chapter one. Amy<\/a>, Ted<\/a>, and me<\/a> on chapter three.\u00a0 Holly<\/a>, Tripp<\/a>, and me<\/a> on chapter four.\u00a0 Mike<\/a> and me<\/a> on chapter five.\u00a0 Brother Maynard and me<\/a> on chapter six.\u00a0 Mike<\/a>, Greg<\/a>, and me<\/a> on chapter seven.\u00a0 Luke<\/a> and me<\/a> on the epilogue.\u00a0 Jonathan<\/a> and me<\/a> on the importance of the Didache.\u00a0 Dwight<\/a> and me<\/a> on the Didache and the creeds.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A couple new reviews of The Teaching of the Twelve were posted this week.\u00a0 The first, by Wes Ellis, is positive.\u00a0 Wes particularly likes the modern translation of the Didache that we\u2019ve provided, and calls that the best chapter of the book.\u00a0 He goes on to write, How does this fit in with Jones\u2019 other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[182,458,612],"class_list":["post-900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-didache","tag-new-testament","tag-teaching-of-the-twelve"],"yoast_head":"\n\n