Friday Scholarly Notes
7/5/24
Wilhite, Shawn J. (2019). "Series Preface." In The Didache: A Commentary. (4-7). Eugene, OR: Cascade Books. (Personal Library).
Wilhite observes that the category of the "Apostolic Fathers" was not recognized as such in antiquity, but first identified in some regard in a collection by Jean-Baptiste Cotelier in 1672 (Wilhite 2019, p. 4). Prior to that time, some of the first and second century authors had appeared in a variety of manuscripts. Wilhite specifically mentions Codex Hierosolymitanus, from 1056, discovered in 1873, containing "the Didache, Barnabas, 1 Clement, 2 Clement, and a long recension of the Ignatian epistles" (Wilhite 2019, p. 4). The Shepherd of Hermas and the Martyrdoms of Ignatius and Polycarp, along with a few fragmentary works are also included by some commentators. Wilhite cites Ehrman's Loeb edition of 2003 and a revision of Lightfoot and Harner, released in a third edition in 2007 as authoritative editions (Wilhite 2019, p. 5).
The Apostolic Fathers are important due to their antiquity as well as their representation of a variety of genres, locations, and their reflection of topics important to different situations found among early Christians (Wilhite 2019, p. 5). The topics may also shed light on the dissemination of different parts of texts recognized later as canonical works.
Wilhite continues with a discussion of the Apostolic Fathers Commentary Series, of which this is the first volume (Wilhite 2019, p. 6-7).
RSS Feed