Full Description
Dating from the first century, the Didache offers a unique window into early Jewish Christianity. Its Jewish-Christian author seeks to mediate the Torah for the text's gentile recipients, steering diplomatically between the Scylla and Charybdis of the Law-observing church in Jerusalem and Paul's more open teaching. The Didache is thus very clear that gentile believers do not need to convert to Judaism, but at the same time its author argues that the Torah - particularly the second table of the Decalogue - is universal. The Deuteronomic paradigm of the 'Way of Life' against the 'Way of Death' applies to all.
In Torah for Gentiles? Daniel Nessim explores this juxtaposition in depth. How is Jesus' 'easy yoke' to be held alongside the strenuous commands of Mosaic Law? What does it mean to attain perfection? The path the Didache offers is not as straightforward as one might suppose, yet both Jews and Christians would recognize its moral basis as largely the same as that which underpins Judaeo-Christian values today. Moreover, the Christian community it describes, from a time when that community still looked very much to its Jewish forebears, makes it a fascinating example of the origins of Christian life and worship.
Contents
Preface | ix
Abbreviations | xi
Introduction | xiii
Part One: Didache and Torah | 1
1. The Didache and the Torah: A Literature Review | 3
2. Text and Transmission | 22
Part Two: A Comprehensible and Authoritative Teaching | 45
3. Crisis and Community | 47
4. Two Ways and the One Way of Torah | 74
5. An Authoritative Torah and Teacher | 90
Part Three: Torah for the Lord's Community | 113
6. The Two Ways Choice | 115
7. The Sectio, Jesus, and the Torah | 129
8. The Sectio and the Two Ways | 140
9. The Torah and the Two Ways | 158
10. The Yoke of the Lord | 177
11. The Two Ways Disciple | 196
Conclusion | 221
Bibliography | 225
Author Index | 243
Subject Index | 247
Index of References | 253
