The Didache: History, Authorship, and Christian Teaching
This paper examines the Didache, one of the earliest surviving Christian documents, also known as "The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles." It explores the document's uncertain date of composition (estimated between 50 and 100 AD), its disputed authorship, and its significance to early Christian communities. The paper analyzes the Didache's key themes — including its moral teachings, baptismal instructions, community guidelines, and warnings against false prophets — and compares its content to familiar Biblical passages such as the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Lord's Prayer. Scholarly perspectives from Jonathan Draper, John Dominic Crossan, and others are discussed to illuminate the document's historical and theological importance.
- Introduction to the Didache: Dating, discovery, and structure of the document
- Authorship and Origins: Disputed authorship and possible contributors
- Meaning and Significance: Scholarly interpretations and regional reception
- Goals and Core Teachings: Moral commandments compared to Biblical teachings
- Audience and Community Guidance: Baptism, prayer, and community instructions
- Context, False Prophets, and Conclusion: Warnings against false prophets and final assessment
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounds its analysis in direct quotation from the Didache itself, allowing the primary source to speak alongside secondary scholarship.
- Connects the Didache's teachings to well-known Biblical passages (the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, the Sermon on the Mount), making the document accessible and contextually meaningful.
- Balances multiple scholarly viewpoints — Draper, Crossan, Davies, Schelle — without forcing a single conclusion on disputed questions like authorship and dating.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of primary source quotation integrated with secondary scholarly commentary. Rather than simply summarizing the Didache, the author quotes specific passages and then interprets them through the lens of established scholars, modeling how to build an argument from both primary and secondary evidence.
Structure breakdown
The paper is organized around a series of guiding questions — when, who, what, why, and for whom — that structure the inquiry systematically. It opens with dating and discovery, moves through authorship disputes, then examines scholarly interpretations of the document's meaning, followed by a chapter-by-chapter analysis of its teachings and intended audience, and closes with a summary of the Didache's lasting relevance to Christian history.
Introduction to the Didache
The Didache, also known as "The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles," is dated as having been written in the 50s, 60s, or perhaps 70s AD, although those dates are not certain. Jonathan Draper states that the latest proposed date of composition is 100 AD. Even though the date remains uncertain, what is clear is that the Didache does consist of instructions about how to be a Christian. The first six chapters deal with lessons on what is expected of Christians. The next four chapters describe Christian ceremonies — including the Christian ways of fasting, baptism, and community life — and the final six chapters address the actual organization of the early Christian Church.
The documents were discovered around 1873 by Philotheos Bryennios in the Jerusalem Monastery of the Most Holy Sepulcher at Constantinople, and were published in 1885.
Authorship and Origins
Some scholars believe the Didache was written by the apostles themselves, but this is not a settled matter. When reading the Didache, one notices a strong familiarity with certain books of the Bible. For example, there is considerable similarity in language with the Book of Matthew and the Book of Mark. As to an exact author, however, no one knows for certain. Some scholars believe the Didache was composed along the same lines as certain chapters of the Bible, which Biblical scholars suggest may have been written as a joint project — a shared text produced by a community of believers rather than by a single individual.
In attempting to identify exactly who wrote the Didache, it is worth remembering that the Apostles were not necessarily scholars, intellectuals, or authors. Jesus did not seek out learned men; he recruited ordinary people from various walks of life. His disciples and apostles were fishermen and common men — generally not well educated, but men from the community who understood his message of salvation and devotion to God's word. That said, other writers and scholars suggest that St. Paul and St. Barnabas probably had a hand in writing the Didache. Whatever pen was used and however disputed its origins, the Didache is most certainly a path that Christians were asked to follow.
Works Cited
Crossan, John Dominic. The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Jesus. New York: HarperCollins, 1998.
Draper, Jonathan. Gospel Perspectives, Volume 5: The Jesus Tradition Outside the Gospels. Ed. David Wenham. 1985.
The Didache: Teachings of the 12 Apostles. Translated from the Greek by Russel Hitchcock. Retrieved February 22, 2015, from http://reluctant-messenger.com.
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