Second Clement. William Varner

      To

      Daniel B. Wallace,

      who appreciates tradition

      Series Foreword

      Introduction to the Apostolic Fathers Commentary Series

      Who Are the Apostolic Fathers?

The label “Apostolic Fathers” reflects a narrow collection of early Christian texts that generally date from the first and second centuries ce.1 The works of the Apostolic Fathers offer a remarkable window into early (especially second-century) Christianity, as communities forged their religious and social identities within the broader Graeco-Roman culture.2 As these early authors defined themselves and their readers in relationship to pagan culture, Jewish religiosity, and internal rivals, they ultimately influenced Christian movements for generations to come. Each book within the collection sheds unique light on the diversity of theology, worship, and life within nascent Christian communities.

The collection of Apostolic Fathers is an “artificial corpus” and a “modern construct.”3 Authors in antiquity did not use the label to describe such a collection.4 Some of the Apostolic Fathers appear in the fourth-century Codex Sinaiticus (Barnabas and Hermas) and the fifth-century Codex Alexandrinus (1 Clement and 2 Clement).5 Some were read in public worship, were cited as “scripture,” or were mentioned in the context of early canonical discussions.6 Codex Hierosolymitanus (1056 ce), which was discovered in 1873, contains the Didache, Barnabas, 1 Clement, 2 Clement, and a long recension of the Ignatian epistles.

Jean-Baptiste Cotelier produced the first printed edition of a collection akin to the Apostolic Fathers in 1672.7 Cotelier’s Latin collection was titled SS. patrum qui temporibus apostolicis floruerunt; Barnabae, Clementis, Hermae, Ignatii, Polycarpi.8 Inclusion within the collection was thus associated with an assumed historical connection to the times of the apostles (temporibus apostolicis). Within the text of his work, Cotelier spoke of an Apostolicorum Patrum Collectio.9 In 1693, William Wake put forth an English edition of the Apostolic Fathers: The Genuine Epistles of the Apostolical Fathers: S. Barnabas, S. Ignatius, S. Clement, S. Polycarp, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Martyrdoms of St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp.10 In 1699, Thomas Ittig abbreviated Cotelier’s Latin title to Bibliotheca patrum apostolicorum Graeco-Latina.11 Early commentators continued to insist that at least some of the apostolic fathers had contact with the original apostles.12

Andreas Gallandi added the Letter to Diognetus, extant material from the Apology of Quadratus, and the Papias fragments to the corpus of the Apostolic Fathers in 1765.13 The Didache, since its rediscovery in the nineteenth century, has regularly accompanied the collection as well.14 The scholarly work of J. B. Lightfoot, Theodore Zahn, and others elevated the “middle recension” of Ignatius’s epistles as the preferred form of the Ignatian correspondence.15

In the Anglophone world, the “most readily available” and “widely used” editions of the Apostolic Fathers are Bart Ehrman’s entry in the Loeb Classical Library (2003) and Michael Holmes’s thorough revision of Lightfoot and Harmer’s work, now in its third edition (2007).16 Both Ehrman and Holmes include the Didache, 1 Clement, the fragment of Quadratus, the seven letters of the middle recension of the Ignatian correspondence, Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians, the fragments of Papias, the Epistle of Barnabas, 2 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Martyrdom of Polycarp, and the Epistle to Diognetus. This list of eleven has attained somewhat of a quasi-canonical status within Apostolic Fathers studies, though a few works float in and out of the boundaries of investigations within the field.17 Although early modern scholars tended to insist upon the direct contact of the apostolic fathers with the apostles, contemporary scholars recognize the phenomenon of pseudepigraphal attribution within the corpus, and they acknowledge a diverse notion of “apostolicity” within the primary source texts themselves.18

      Why Are the Apostolic Fathers Important?

The works of the Apostolic Fathers represent a spectrum of literary genres, including a church manual (Didache), occasional letters (1 Clement, the Ignatian correspondence, Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians), a theological tractate in epistolary form (Barnabas), apocalyptic and visionary materials (Hermas), a martyr narrative in epistolary form (Martyrdom of Polycarp), a homily (2 Clement), an apology with appended homiletic material (Diognetus), and fragments of both expositional and apologetic works (Papias and Quadratus).19 The Apostolic Fathers also represent a wide range of geographical provenance and intended audience, pointing interpreters to early Christian communities in locations scattered throughout the Roman Empire, such as Corinth, Philippi, Rome, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Syria.20

The Apostolic Fathers reflect variegated facets of early church life and organization, theological and liturgical development, spirituality and prayer, moral instruction and identity formation.21 The Apostolic Fathers are important witnesses to the transmission and consolidation of earlier