Readers of my blog will have noticed my recent references to Thomas O'Loughlin's book, The Didache: A Window on the Earliest Christians. The book is a "mixed bag." The author accepts that the Gospel accounts, save Mark, were late first to early second century works while the "deutero-Pauline" epistles (Pastorals, et al) were second to third century. As such, the Didache is thought to inform or be consistent with material that informed the writing of those works. This calls into question much of his reasoning as he attempts to bring Didache together with the New Testament. A straightforward reading of N.T. and Didache would demonstrate that the Church Fathers were correct in holding the former group as primary both in chronology and authority.
The benefit of this book is O'Loughlin's thesis that Didache was a training manual for the Christian community: it is a catechetical work for discipleship. He notes the process from one phase to another in logical steps: basic presentation concerning the ways of life and death, taking in the moral teachings of Christ, understanding the character and identifying marks of the church, and looking for the promised return of the Lord. He questions why the church has largely dismissed the need for thorough instruction of what comprised the relationship with God and His people. To that end he has identified a weak spot in the life of the church.
What formerly had been a progression that occurred in any given person—proclamation of judgment and gospel, repentance, belief on Christ with accompanying baptism for the forgiveness of sins, assembling with others, instruction in God's word, nurture by an older believer—has now become truncated and compartmentalized. Christians develop characteristics more akin to Deism or Gnosticism than being true followers in the Way. What God had joined together man has torn asunder: evangelism from discipleship, baptism from belief, person of Christ from his Supper, sound doctrine from instruction, admonition and correction from training in righteousness. Priority has shifted from the care of souls to care of the corporate entity. The mindset driving this is, "How do we touch the most lives with limited resources? How do we keep the organization together, moving strong and growing?" That is a practical outlook, but it has little to do with the local church. The correct questions should be, "What has God revealed in his word that needs to be done, and are we doing it according to his pattern?"
We would do well to evaluate both content and methodology of the local church against what the Lord has told us and be willing to look at what those early Christians did after the apostles died. We do not want to directly imitate what as done, nor do we dare romanticize the purity of those first few centuries. Instead, make a critical examination of their teaching and practice to better ground what we do in Christ's name.
The benefit of this book is O'Loughlin's thesis that Didache was a training manual for the Christian community: it is a catechetical work for discipleship. He notes the process from one phase to another in logical steps: basic presentation concerning the ways of life and death, taking in the moral teachings of Christ, understanding the character and identifying marks of the church, and looking for the promised return of the Lord. He questions why the church has largely dismissed the need for thorough instruction of what comprised the relationship with God and His people. To that end he has identified a weak spot in the life of the church.
What formerly had been a progression that occurred in any given person—proclamation of judgment and gospel, repentance, belief on Christ with accompanying baptism for the forgiveness of sins, assembling with others, instruction in God's word, nurture by an older believer—has now become truncated and compartmentalized. Christians develop characteristics more akin to Deism or Gnosticism than being true followers in the Way. What God had joined together man has torn asunder: evangelism from discipleship, baptism from belief, person of Christ from his Supper, sound doctrine from instruction, admonition and correction from training in righteousness. Priority has shifted from the care of souls to care of the corporate entity. The mindset driving this is, "How do we touch the most lives with limited resources? How do we keep the organization together, moving strong and growing?" That is a practical outlook, but it has little to do with the local church. The correct questions should be, "What has God revealed in his word that needs to be done, and are we doing it according to his pattern?"
We would do well to evaluate both content and methodology of the local church against what the Lord has told us and be willing to look at what those early Christians did after the apostles died. We do not want to directly imitate what as done, nor do we dare romanticize the purity of those first few centuries. Instead, make a critical examination of their teaching and practice to better ground what we do in Christ's name.
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