Earlier tonight, I had the privilege to have dinner with a cousin of mine who I haven’t seen for 20 years. As my family was leaving (getting kids into a minivan can be a chore), he told me he bought my book on the Apostolic Fathers (yay!) but that he hadn’t been able to reallyl get into it (sad face).
I get it though. I thought a minute and recommended a few passages: Didache and Diognetus 5–6. But there are more, at least from my perspective. Here’s my quick list after thinking about it for a bit:
- 1 Clement 59–61
- 2 Clement 1
- Didache 1–3; 7–9; 16
- Diognetus 5–6
- Ignatius to the Ephesians 9
- Ignatius to the Philadelpheans 8
- Polycarp to the Philippians 7
- Barnabas 18–20 (cf. Didache 1–5)
- Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 1.1–4 and Vision 4.1–3
- Martrydom of Polycarp 9–11
What did I miss, and why? Add your recommendations in the comments. Thanks!
Rick Brannan 
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
LikeLike
I was hoping to see some short explainations of why these passages, and not just a naked list of passages.
LikeLike
Thanks for the feedback, Jeff. Maybe I’ll get to the “why” in a later post. I just think these read well. Diognetus 5-6 is a classic explanation of how Christians differ from others. The Martyrdom of Polycarp passage has Polycarp in the stadium, interacting with the proconsul with rhetorical gusto. 2 Clement 1 is simply one of the most beautiful things I’ve read. The 1 Clement passage is a prayer, and an amazing one at that. The first Hermas passage is the opening, when he spies women bathing in a river but maintains that he didn’t sin (and he gets called on it); the second is an encounter between Hermas and a dragon-like creature. I just thought they were good passages for a quick list like this. They’re good quick reads to show that these documents aren’t dry, dusty, boring tomes.
LikeLiked by 1 person