The Didache

<p><em> </em><em>    The Didache</em> or “teaching” is a treasured gem in the crown of Christian writings being as close a link as there is to Jesus’ original teachings. </p><p>    Written in the first or second century A.D. by early Jewish followers of Jesus it mysteriously disappeared in the fifth century only to reappear again 1400 years later in 1873. <em>The Didache</em>’s remit was to disseminate early Christian ethics and rules of conduct to the gentiles although it was never included in the canon of the New Testament. It is a short work in four parts: the first section Chapters 1–6 are moral guidelines for converts; the second part gives advice on Christian ritual – such as baptism fasting and the Eucharist (Chapters 7–10); the third centres on the ministry and how to treat apostles prophets bishops and deacons (Chapters 11–15); and the final section (Chapter 16) is eschatological in nature and speaks of Christ’s second coming.</p><p>    This easy-to-read translation by Hitchcock and Brown was the first English translation to be published and comes with both an introduction and notes.</p>