Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers
- Cambridge Companions to Religion
- The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Intriguing and Enigmatic
- 1 The Roman Empire in the Era of the Apostolic Fathers
- 2 The Image of Jews and Judaism in the Apostolic Fathers
- 3 Second-Century Diversity
- 4 The Jesus Tradition in the Apostolic Fathers
- 5 The Text of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers
- 6 The Reception of Paul, Peter, and James in the Apostolic Fathers
- 7 Between Ekklēsia and State
- 8 Church, Church Ministry, and Church Order
- 9 The Apostolic Mothers
- 10 1 and 2 Clement
- 11 The Letters of Ignatius
- 12 Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians and the Martyrdom of Polycarp
- 13 Didache
- 14 The Epistle of Barnabas
- 15 The Shepherd of Hermas as Early Christian Apocalypse
- 16 The Epistle to Diognetus and the Fragment of Quadratus
- 17 The Fragments of Papias
- Sources Index
- Subject Index
- Cambridge Companions to Religion (continued from page )
Introduction Intriguing and Enigmatic
The Apostolic Fathers and Current Research
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2021
- The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers
- Cambridge Companions to Religion
- The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Intriguing and Enigmatic
- 1 The Roman Empire in the Era of the Apostolic Fathers
- 2 The Image of Jews and Judaism in the Apostolic Fathers
- 3 Second-Century Diversity
- 4 The Jesus Tradition in the Apostolic Fathers
- 5 The Text of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers
- 6 The Reception of Paul, Peter, and James in the Apostolic Fathers
- 7 Between Ekklēsia and State
- 8 Church, Church Ministry, and Church Order
- 9 The Apostolic Mothers
- 10 1 and 2 Clement
- 11 The Letters of Ignatius
- 12 Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians and the Martyrdom of Polycarp
- 13 Didache
- 14 The Epistle of Barnabas
- 15 The Shepherd of Hermas as Early Christian Apocalypse
- 16 The Epistle to Diognetus and the Fragment of Quadratus
- 17 The Fragments of Papias
- Sources Index
- Subject Index
- Cambridge Companions to Religion (continued from page )
Summary
The Apostolic Fathers (AF) are a para-apostolic and post-apostolic corpus of writings, a group of texts composed beside and after the New Testament. This corpus constitutes an important precursor to the Christian apologists and pre-Nicene theologians of subsequent centuries. The words intriguing and enigmatic aptly describe both the collection itself as well as the current state of scholarship on them. The AF are an intriguing body of literature because they provide an important window into the lived religion of Christians in the late first and early second century. The intrigue only deepens once we look at and through these windows. Looking at them, the AF offer colourful portraits of key protagonists – much like stained-glass windows, they provide colour but only an outline of the people depicted in the artwork. For example, we know the names and some biographical details and have depictions of Polycarp and Papias, but our knowledge of them is otherwise fragmentary and scant. Looking through the AF, we observe ancient Christian people with their practices, diversities, debates, anxieties, hopes, and worship; this leaves us with many impressions but even more questions.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers , pp. 1 - 9Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021