On the Two Ways: Life or Death, Light or Darkness: Foundational Texts in the Tradition

Popular Patristics Series #41

by Alistair Stewart (Translator)

In the early years of the common era,
as Judaism and Christianity each emerged, their adherents saw that life presents us with a choice of following one of two ways, either of goodness or of evil, characterized variously as ways of life or death, of light or darkness, of truth or deceit. This conviction is presented to us in a number of different versions and
literary contexts. This book contains the various presentations of these two ways from across the centuries. It was a choice faced by those being baptized as by those seeking a deeper knowledge of Christ and one which continues to confront us all even today.

Each version of the two ways is
presented together with introductions which allow the reader to see the presentation of the motif in its historical and literary context.

Genres: Christian, Christianity, Theology, Spirituality

159 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Cole Shiflet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is designed for those interested in the manuscript development of texts such as the Didache and others in the Two Ways Tradition. It’s not super accessible to the average reader and doesn’t carry the same sort of practical theology of other Popular Patristics books.

[Thomas Roman]

Good

[Raphael Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much that I learned and encountered anew in this short little gem of a book.

To begin, a short disclaimer, this is a heavily academic read, if read in its entirety. However, I personally believe that even if you're not inclined to read this kind of literature, you could skip the editors academic commentary, and simply read the actual patristic texts that are translated, which make up the bulk of this book anyway. If this is the approach you'd like to take, you would still benefit from the rich wisdom of the fathers and apostles and enjoy this book immensely. The translated texts can be found as outlined below:

The Didache: Page 35-44
The Teaching of the Apostles (Doctrina Apostolorum): Page 50-52
The Epistle of Barnabas: Page 61-85
The summary of the commands of the apostles of catholic tradition: Page 104-106
The directions through Clement and the canons of the holy apostles: Page 106-114
The life of shenoute: Page 122-124
The Syntagma doctrinae: Page 131-137
The fides patrum: Page 138-146
The rule of St Benedict: Page 147-149

Concerning the translations themselves, they offered me invaluable insight into the life of the church as it was established and preserved by our orthodox church. I was breath-taken at the familiarity that I possessed with the concepts and ideas outlined by the apostles and the fathers in these manuscripts, as I came to realise that the church had taught me so much of this simply by exposure and through its liturgical life. I found myself overwhelmed by the faithfulness of God in preserving His Church and His doctrine by the work of the Spirit. This being said, there was still so much to learn, such wisdom and richness in the expression of doctrine in these texts, and I felt as though I myself was sitting at the feet of these patriarchs and learning from them.

Concerning the academic commentary, and the true purpose of this book, which was to examine the tradition of The Two Ways in all of these texts, I was obsessed with following the progression of the use of this tradition in our texts, and its influence on the teachings of our church. As I read each of the translations of these manuscripts and encountered, and continued to re-encounter, this rich teaching, it was fascinating to see how the editor guided me through the history of this tradition and its use in different texts, and the insight that was offered on the links between texts as well as all that they teach us about the church and the challenges associated with any particular time period that the text may have been from.

A beautiful read. Highly recommend.

[Benjamin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had great hopes that this would be a good book. The quality of the product is perfect, it is very fine to read and the cover is beautiful. But I have read now a few pages and I tend to leave it with a few pages. The author abbreviates everything, the words Two ways Tradition is abbreviated as TWT, the Didache is abbreviated with a D, the Epitome of the teaching of the Apostles with an E, the Doctrina Apostolorum with a L, the Apostolic Church Order with a D etc. I have browsed through the pages in the end, it will only get worse. The book is in the end only a collection of abbreviations. Too bad!

[Ted · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably of greatest interest to scholars, it is a scholarly and technical study. It does show what other things Christians read in the early centuries of the church's development and gives a detailed comparison of the similarities and differences in the texts in this tradition.

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The exegesis parts and redaction speculation parts were interesting, the actual texts referred to I may have read before

[savannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to gain a full understanding of the 10 commandments over the centuries, great 👍 But not the easiest read jumps around a lot, so if not an avid reader, you might lose track a bit.