The apostolic and sub-apostolic writings: the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521460835.003

2 - The apostolic and sub-apostolic writings: the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers

from A - LITERARY GUIDE

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008

Edited by

Lewis Ayres and

Assisted by

Frances Young: Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Lewis Ayres: Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta
Andrew Louth: Affiliation:
University of Durham
Augustine Casiday: Affiliation:
University of Durham

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Summary

The expression ‘Apostolic Fathers’ corresponds to an idea of seventeenth-century origin. It originated as the label for a set of writings, then in the process of being recovered and edited, whose authors, though mere ‘fathers’ and not apostles, were taken to have been close to figures of the apostolic age and thus to possess a certain tincture of apostolic authority. Their writings were therefore both associated and contrasted with those contained in the New Testament, since the latter were assumed to have been written either by apostles proper or by first-generation contemporaries and disciples of theirs.

Historical-critical study of the New Testament has since eliminated the chronological gap that this scheme postulates between the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers. It is now recognized that apart from the genuine letters of Paul, the books of the New Testament were all written in the period between (roughly) AD 70 and 140, and are thus largely contemporary with those contained in the collection of Apostolic Fathers (–and also, of course, with certain ‘apocrypha’ and gnostic writings). What distinguishes the latter collection, then, is simply the fact that its writings are relatively primitive, that they belong to traditions counted orthodox, and that they did not become part of the New Testament (though at least three of them – I Clement, The Shepherd of Hermas and Didache – appeared on certain lists of New Testament books).

Keywords

Gospel of Truth Gospel of Thomas apocalyptic literature Apostolic Fathers Christianity The Shepherd of Hermas New Testament Roman Church

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature , pp. 11 - 19

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521460835.003 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2004

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2 - The apostolic and sub-apostolic writings: the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers

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