The Didache and the Writings that later formed the New Testament

Abstract

Abstract Ever since its discovery in 1873, the Didache has been a source of intense scholarly debate about a number of issues, including its date, the use of the ‘Two Ways’ tradition, early Christian liturgical—especially eucharistic—practice, and the nature of developing ecclesiastical hierarchy in the early church. Among these issues of debate has always been the question of the relationship of the Didache to the writings of (what became) the New Testament. The text of the Didache shows a number of striking parallels with some parts of other NT texts, and the vast majority of these parallels involve material appearing in the synoptic gospels. Parallels between the Didache and other parts of the NT are generally thought to be rather slight. Such parallels as exist are discussed below. But interest in this general topic (of the relationship between the Didache and the NT) has always focused primarily on the parallels that exist between the Didache and the synoptic gospels.2 However, before discussing the parallels in detail, some preliminary observations and comments are in order.