Clement of Rome and the Didache

by Clement of Rome, Anonymous (Didache), Kenneth J. Howell (Editor)

The Letter to the Corinthians by Clement of Rome and the Didache are two of the most important documents from the earliest days of Christianity. Here we stand at the very fount of Christian teaching outside the New Testament. Here we stand at the very fount of Christian teaching outside the New Testament. Clement's letter and the Didache reveal how Christians were implementing and living out the faith taught by Jesus and passed on by the twelve apostles. The constant threat of schism and doctrinal deviation prompted these earliest writers to pen some of the most enduring wisdom known to the church. For Christians today, these earliest writings harken back to when the unity of faith and morals was a cherished gift and goal among professing believers. No Christian can remain unchallenged and unchanged while reading and absorbing these writings. In a time when Christians everywhere are seeking a greater visible unity of faith and order, these documents provide rich food for thought.

Genres: Religion

204 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

Pope Clement I is also known as Saint Clement of Rome, is listed as Bishop of Rome, holding office from 88 to his death in 99. He is considered to be the first Apostolic Father of the Church.

Also known as Clemens Romanus

Reviews

[Rusty del Norte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clement of Rome & The Didache is a work discussing & interpreting these two historic early Christian writings from a contemporary Roman Catholic perspective. They are discussed - with more emphasis on Clement's Letter to the Corinthians. The Didache receives less attention. The last two chapters consist of translations of the two texts.

Early on, the setup for Clement is good. He references some of the contemporaries that were Christian for his time. He establishes that Clement was most likely the author with the multiple references, including Hegesippus & Dionysius. But, then it begins to break down in the proceeding chapters on Clement. He starts interpreting Roman Catholic doctrine into Clement's letter. He further gets off track & begins citing New Testament passages in support of this doctrine – sometimes for pages ignoring Clement entirely. It, at times, was more apologetics-like than scholarship.

Then we get to Didache. Fortunately, he didn't go into a apologetics-like mode on this one. Instead, we don't spend a lot of time on this one. We get a similar formula for mentioning later works that mention the text. But it's not broken down as much - except 4-part sectionalization that some scholars accept. But nothing on its origins & how it achieved it's current form. Possibly because, as the author relies on a lot of previous scholarship, there are diverging opinions on the work. The one thing the author does point out is its similarity with The Sermon on the Mount.

The last part is the translations. These seem to be the main drive with this book. There are copious references for each paragraph for the translation – referencing other translations. However, the translations come off wooden & worse – theologically slanted. They are written as to emphasize it's biblical interpretation & use of less-common language. These are 2 things that many translators avoid today so that common people can read them. Instead, this work severely restricts that by it's method of translation. As I have read a couple of other translations of each work, I found these to be the least intriguing that I have found.

Overall, I am glad the author tried to write a book about these works & put out a translation with some basic notes. This needs to be done more. But, there was no setup or historical background. No mentions of archaeology. Rarely mentions diverging opinions on interpretations. No non-Christian writers from the areas these works were written. But I'm not sure what was to be expected in a short book that covered 2 historic works.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent commentary on Clement of Rome's letter to the Corinthians, in addition to the full letter Clement wrote. The Didache is included, with the author also commenting on parts of it. There has been and probably always will be various interpretations of the Didache, but most are very small differences and the teachings overall all quite clear to anyone who wants to read it. It is wonderful that the letters/teachings of the early church fathers are made available to those of us who do not read Greek/Hebrew/Arabic.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today, I am reviewing Book 2 in the Early Christian Fathers Series, Clement of Rome and the Didache. Clement was considered the fourth pope, and the primary work attributed to him is his "Letter to the Corinthians." When reading through this letter, one can see that he had to write to this church community in Corinth for the same reasons that St. Paul did - sedition and rebellion. The "Didache" or "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" is considered a bridge between the writings of the New Testament and the Early Church Fathers like Clement or Polycarp. It contains early teachings used to guide the Church in her infancy.

In this book one finds both a new translation of the two works mentioned above, the "Didache" and Clement's "Letter to the Corinthians," and chapters explaining their context and content. I've tried reading these works before, particularly the translation of Philip Schaff, which were available for free online. While those texts were readable, they were a bit stilted. I guess that is to be expected since they were translated back in the 1800s. Kenneth Howell does a masterful job translating these two texts and provides plenty of footnotes at the bottom of every page to help the reader understand the texts better.

The most helpful part of the book is the chapters at the beginning, which set the stage for the subsequent texts. Like the Bible, one can pick up these works and read them and interpret them how they wish. To understand these texts, or the Bible for that matter, you need to understand the audience to whom they were written and their historical context. And while these works are not considered Scripture, they were widely read in the Early Church and thus hold an important message for us today. Therefore, I appreciated Mr. Howell spelling these things out in order to help us understand the meaning of these texts.

This book gets a 5 star rating from me as it helps make the Early Church Fathers accessible and readble to today's world. The only thing I would consider changing with regards to the book is the layout. Instead of putting all the chapters of introduction and explanation first and the texts second, I would break the book into two parts. The first part would have the explanatory chapters on Clement of Rome with the text to follow, and the second part would have the explanatory chapters on the "Didache" with the text to follow. I look forward to seeing how many books this series will ultimately comprise, and realize I now need to get Book 1, Ignatius Of Antioch & Polycarp Of Smyrna, in the series to read that as well.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very helpful in learning what the early Church taught. Footnotes assist in understanding the early Church teaching.

[Suzan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read on the Early Church Fathers.