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    The Two Ways: The Early Christian Vision of Discipleship from the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas
    The Two Ways: The Early Christian Vision of Discipleship from the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas
    The Two Ways: The Early Christian Vision of Discipleship from the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas
    Ebook78 pages1 hour

    The Two Ways: The Early Christian Vision of Discipleship from the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas

    By Rowan Williams

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    How did earliest Christians receive and understand the teaching of Jesus and the apostles? These writings, among the earliest used in training new disciples, show a clear, vibrant, practical faith concerned with all aspects of discipleship in daily life—vocation, morality, family life, social justice, the sacraments, prophesy, citizenship, and leadership.

    For the most part, these writings have remained buried in academia, analyzed by scholars but seldom used for building up the church community. Now, at a time when Christians of every persuasion are seeking clarity by returning to the roots of their faith, these simple, direct teachings shed light on what it means to be a follower of Christ in any time or place.

    The Didache, an anonymous work composed in the late first century AD, was lost for centuries before being rediscovered in 1873. The Shepherd was written by a former slave named Hermas in the second century AD or possibly even earlier.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPlough Publishing House
    Release dateJun 1, 2018
    ISBN9780874867404
    The Two Ways: The Early Christian Vision of Discipleship from the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas
    Author

    Rowan Williams

    Rowan Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, PC, FBA, FRSL, FLSW, is a world renowned theological writer, teacher, and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury (2002–2012) before becoming Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. His most recent books include Luminaries (2019), Being Human (2018), God With Us (2017), Being Disciples (2016), Being Christian (2014) and The Poems of Rowan Williams (2014).

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    Reviews for The Two Ways

    3.5/5

    11 ratings8 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This book is a historical look at the early church, and some of its practices.The book has great content from the early church, but some of that content also should be listened to with caution. Rather than this being a book of instruction based on scriptures, this is a book for research and should be examined with discernment.Overall, a great resource for research purposes. Easy to read translation. Great insight into early church practices.
    • 4/5
      Some reviewers have concentrated on the  theology, translation quality, or accuracy of the introduction of "The Two Ways". I am a preaching pastor and have put on annual "All-Saints' Museum" display for about ten years. With that perspective, I appreciated this work for what I believe it was intended to be, a relatively simple glimpse into some of the thinking being circulated among some early Christians who did not have all of our resources. I also appreciated it as a source for some extra-biblical illustrations, some of which I could use and some of which I might caution against (they will preach either way). It is worth the read.
    • 4/5
      This book is composed of three parts – the Introduction, Selections from the Didache, and Selections from the Shepherd of Hermas. The Introduction is a fascinating take on early Christians and why they were so revolutionary. Rowan Williams’ introduction is perhaps the main reason to purchase this book. With deft insight, he explains why and how the early Christians were able to believe the radical (for them) ideas preached by a Jewish Carpenter. In particular, it is his idea that God’s love is radical because it does not require something in common with the beloved to exist. God’s love is because God IS love. This idea is how we, as Christians, are able to love anyone. As for the Didache and The Shepard of Hermes, I did not like them. I say that, however, with firm acknowledgement that this is a subject opinion. Indeed, it would be impossible to be objective. Both were written almost two thousand years ago, indeed for an audience vastly different then the modern reader. To critic is unfair. The Didache seems harsh and the Shepherd vague and philosophical. There are many Early Christian Writings, most of which are rich in meaning and insight. These two might be such for you. This book would be an excellent introduction to both of these works. As for me, I did not gain from the writings, but did from the introduction and so am thankful I read this book.
    • 4/5
      This book contains selection from The Didache and The Shepherd of Hermas, two early Christian writings. In addition, there is an introduction from former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Because of this introduction, this book is well worth the purchase as one can easily find The Didache and The Shepherd for free online. Both writings give a guide (or perhaps a Rule might be a better term) for Christians who wish to live out their Christian mission. The translation is easy to understand and reads smoothly. While The Didache is rather straightforward, The Shepherd is more analogical. Since much of the language is symbolic is also much more difficult to understand.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed reading this book, seem more like a history book reading this old Christian documents from early centuries. As a Christian I don't quite agree with everything in the book but had a lot of good things in it and I did enjoy again the history andrean such old documents.
    • 3/5
      The title of this volume is "The Two Ways." But it might be better to call it "The One and a Half Books."The contents consist of two writings, The Didache and (excerpts from) The Shepherd of Hermas. The back cover blurb claims that "these writings have remained buried in academia" -- but this isn't really true. A translation of the Didache was included in the Penguin edition of Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers, which was certainly intended for a popular audience (although not designed to be a devotional work). Hermas was available in English in William Hone's (much too popular) The Lost Books of the Bible. More recently, versions of both books have been found in Bart D. Ehrman's Lost Scriptures. There may well be other popular editions; I stopped digging in my library when I found two translations of each book. It's harder to find a copy of the Didache or Hermas than to locate a regular Bible, but a good deal easier than finding most early Christian instructional or devotional works, such as Tertullian or Chrysostom.So this book can't justify itself based on rarity. And while it has an interesting introduction by Rowan Williams, that doesn't really offer much in the way of new thoughts. So, if the book is to justify itself, it can only be on the quality of the translation.Here, I have to put in a disclaimer: I used to know Michael Holmes slightly; we discussed textual criticism, a field of great interest to both of us. But I don't think that affects my opinion. This is a good translation -- much more readable than the Penguin Didache or the Hone Hermas. On the whole, I'd also rate it above the Ehrman translations, which aren't as badly pseudo-King-James-y as the Hone and Penguin tests but still have the slightly stilted sound of on over-literal rendering. (That's apart from the fact that, in Ehrman, these orthodox Christian documents are surrounded by some really disgustingly heretical stuff. You don't have to be a Christian to find Gnosticism hard to swallow....) If you want to read the Didache or the Shepherd, this volume is a good choice.But I am still hesitant to recommend this, for three reasons. One is the complete, total, and utter lack of footnotes. These aren't modern works taken from the author's manuscript; there are places where the text is uncertain, and places where the meaning is uncertain, and the translation gives no clue of that. Without footnotes, you aren't reading the Didache; you are reading what Michael Holmes thinks the Didache meant.Second, like most ancient books, these works do have a chapter/verse system. And it's not indicated here. You don't need the chapters for devotional reading. But you surely need it if you're ever going to talk over the book with anyone who uses a different translation -- or who (horrors!) actually reads the text in the original language!Third, keep in mind that, although the text of the Didache is complete, that of Hermas isn't. This is understandable; Hermas is very long and frankly quite rambling. But if you are to fully understand and assess Hermas, you need to see the long, rambling, dull stuff. The Reader's Digest version of some books may be better than the original (I could name a few names...) -- but it is not the original. If you're going to offer something as an ancient devotional work, you need to offer the whole thing, warts and all! If you want to suggest parts to skip over, fine. But that's not the same thing.So: I would genuinely like to see more Michael Holmes translations of ancient Christian works. How about including these with 1 Clement (another book which almost became part of the New Testament, and which is unquestionably orthodox), and maybe the Letter of Barnabas (which, needless to say, isn't by Barnabas)? This would be a genuine service. But, please, give us the chapter numbers, the footnotes -- and the whole text.
    • 2/5
      Unfortunately, I found Rowan Williams introduction more interesting than the rest of the book.Although there were some portions of the Didache and Shepherd that were found engaging and inspiring, I found this translation to be drab. As a Christian, I also need to say that, from my perspective, these two translated works seem to demonstrate how early the Christians have drifted from the center of faith in Christ.Perhaps it's just me... but I was disappointed with this book.
    • 4/5
      This is an early bird review for “The Two Ways” published by Plough Publishing House and edited by Veery Huleatt. “The Two Ways” contains the complete text of the “The Didache” and excerpts from “The Shepherd of Hermas.” These are two ancient Christian texts from the Patristic era. The translation from Greek into English was provided by Michael W. Holmes and is very readable.There is little commentary beyond the introduction provided by Archbishop Rowan William and thus the reader is allowed to respond directly to this non-biblical but important spiritual text of the early Christian community. The physical format of the book is compact, but the font is an easy read. The relative shortness of the book, 75 pages, makes it a great read as time allows throughout the day or perhaps for nightly reading. I’m very glad that Plough Publishing has made these two early Christian writings available to a broader audience beyond just scholarly or pastoral circles. Overall, I’d recommend this book for those with an interest in matters spiritual, Christian or not.

    Book preview

    The Two Ways - Rowan Williams

    PREFACE

    How did the early Christians receive and understand the teachings of Jesus and the apostles? The writings of these believers reveal a vibrant way of discipleship concerned with all aspects of daily life: family, vocation, morality, justice, religious practice, citizenship, and leadership.

    Yet despite their immediacy, these writings have for the most part remained buried in scholarly tomes, analyzed by academics but seldom used for building up the church community. Now, at a time when Christians of every persuasion are seeking clarity by returning to the roots of their faith, these simple, direct teachings can shed light on what it means to be a follower of Christ in any time or place.

    This little book includes two of the earliest Christian writings outside of the New Testament: the complete text of The Didache, also known as The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, and excerpts from The Shepherd of Hermas, in which the angel of repentance appears to Hermas, a Christian living in Rome, in the form of a shepherd. Both works were included in early lists of canonical books. They have been included here for their witness to the singular and demanding way of Jesus, reinforcing and amplifying his Sermon on the Mount with their insistence on a repentance that affects every corner of our lives.

    The Didache, an anonymous work composed in the late first century AD, was lost for centuries. In 1873 Philotheos Bryennios, the metropolitan of Nicomedia, rediscovered it in an eleventh-century Greek codex at Constantinople.

    The Shepherd of Hermas was written in the second century AD or possibly even earlier. The selections included here loosely follow those made by Eberhard Arnold in his 1926 omnibus of early Christian texts, which is available in English as The Early Christians: In Their Own Words. For Arnold, these texts were formative; they spurred him and others to start living in community after the example of these first Christians. Arnold writes: For my own life, a clearly defined way of life and faith arises from the early Christian witness. In spite of rigidity in later centuries and changes which affected Christianity then, this way continues to be a living force today. It comes from the wellspring of living truth.

    In the following introduction, Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, echoes Arnold, showing how unconventional and uncompromising the Christian way was in Roman times, and what it will take for Christians to reclaim this witness today: There is all the more need for communities of believers trying to live out the radical imperatives.… We can’t do any of this as isolated individuals with an interior piety. We need the concrete reality of Christ’s corporate Body.

    The English translations of the Greek are by Michael W. Holmes, a preeminent scholar of early Christianity, based on the earlier work of J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer. Those wishing to study these writings more closely – along with other significant documents of this period, notably those of Clement of Rome and Ignatius – should read Holmes’s The Apostolic Fathers, third edition.

    Veery Huleatt

    Editor

    INTRODUCTION

    Rowan Williams

    Most of the writings that survive from the first three centuries of Christianity are what one twentieth-century scholar of religion called death-cell philosophy; that is, they represent the kind of thinking that is done under extreme pressure, when what you say or think has a genuine life-or-death importance. Gregory Dix, an Anglican monk writing eighty or so years ago about the worship of the early church, imagined what it would be like to attend the Lord’s Supper in second-century Rome by recreating the experience in terms of twentieth-century London. He takes the descriptions of worship from texts like the so-called Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, The Didache, probably the most ancient account of worship outside the New Testament, and the Apostolic Tradition from the third century, and translates them into the landscape of modern England. A grocer from the unfashionable suburbs slips through the back door of a wealthy brother’s house in Kensington at the crack of dawn to share in the breaking of bread in the drawing room – a brief, quiet event, overshadowed by the knowledge that if they would be discovered they would face at least penal servitude for life, and very likely worse. Any Christian in this period knew that, even if things were relatively peaceful, it was always possible that a suspicious government would crack down. Dix describes how the deacons, the ministers who looked after the doors, were charged with scrutinizing everyone who came in very carefully; you’d need to know who your companions were if your life depended on them.

    The suspicions were well-founded in one sense. If you look at the eyewitness accounts of martyrdom in these early centuries – documents like the wonderful record of the martyrs of Scilli in North Africa in AD 180 – you can see what the real issue was. These Christians, most of them probably domestic slaves, had to explain to the magistrate that they were quite happy to pray for the imperial state, and even to pay taxes, but that they could not grant the state their absolute allegiance. They had another loyalty – which did not mean that they wished to overthrow the administration, but that they would not comply with the state’s demands in certain respects. They would not worship the emperor, and, as we know from some other texts, refused to serve in the Roman army. They asked from the state what had been very reluctantly conceded to the Jews as an ethnic group – exemption from the religious requirements of the empire. What made their demand new and shocking was that it was not made on the basis of ethnic identity, but on the bare fact of conviction and conscience. For the first time in human history, individuals claimed the liberty to define the limits of their political loyalty, and to test that loyalty by spiritual and ethical standards.

    That is why the early Christian movement was so threatening – and so simply baffling – to the Roman authorities. It was not revolutionary in the sense that it was trying to change the

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