Didache (also called Teaching of the Twelve Apostles)

Brief description:

The Didache, in the form we currently have it, was only rediscovered in the late nineteenth century. The word Didache is a transliteration of the Greek word which means teaching, which comes from the long title The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles.

This writing consists of at least two parts. The first part is the Two Ways, which is a discription of the way of life and the way of death. This Two Ways part is present in various forms in several writings from the early Christian era.

The second part of The Didache is instruction on the function of the local Christian assembly. It covers topics like baptism, fasting, prayer, the thanksgiving meal, what to do with traveling teachers and prophets, the Lord’s day gathering, appointing leadership. It ends with a short reminder to remain ready for the end.

Other than a reference by Clement of Alexandria¹ to the Two Ways section (which he seems to view as authoritative), there are no references to The Didache before Eusebius (writing in the early forth century), who lists it as an non-authoritative writing. The date that The Didache was compiled is unknown. The Two Ways section is clearly a very early writing, likely first century. The second part of The Didache is usually dated in the first or second centuries.

Suggested first translation(s):

An easy-to-read, modern English translation that is freely available is the one by Cyril C. Richardson from 1953 listed below. A more literal translation that is also in modern English and freely available is the anonymous one from 2012 listed below.

English translations:

• H. De Romestin (translated ~1884)
  • The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (published 1885) — facsimile
• S. Stanhope Orris (translated ~1884)
  • Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (published 1884) — facsimile
• Philip Schaff (translated ~1885)
  • The Oldest Church Manual called The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (published 1885) — facsimile
  • The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles 3rd edition (published 1890) — facsimile
• Roswell D. Hitchcock/Francis Brown (translated ~1885)
  • The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (published 1885) — facsimile
• Charles Taylor (translated ~1886)
  • The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (published 1886) — facsimile
• Matthew Brown Riddle (translated ~1886)
  • Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 7 (published 1886)
    • read online
• J. Rendel Harris (translated ~1887)
  • The Teaching of the Apostles (published 1887) — facsimile
    • 2nd copy
• Joseph Barber Lightfoot/J. R. Harmer (translated ~1891)
  • The Apostolic Fathers (published 1912) — facsimile
  • The Apostolic Fathers (published 1891) — text/HTML
• Charles H. Hoole (translated ~1894)
  • The Didache (published 1894) — facsimile
    • read online
• G.C. Allen (translated ~1903)
  • The Didache (published 1903) — facsimile
• Charles Bigg/Arthur John Maclean (translated ~1898)
  • The Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles, 1st edition (published 1898) — facsimile
  • The Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles, 2nd edition (published 1922) — facsimile
• Kirsopp Lake (translated ~1912)
  • The Apostolic Fathers, Volume I (published 1912) — facsimile
    • read online
• Francis X. Glimm (translated ~1947)
  • The Apostolic Fathers, Volume 1 of The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, The Catholic University of America Press (published 1947)
• James A. Kleist (translated ~1948)
  • The Didache, The Epistle of Barnabas, The Epistles and the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, The Fragments of Papias, The Epistle to Diognetus, Volume 6 of Ancient Christian Writers, The Newman Press (published 1948)
• Edgar J. Goodspeed (translated ~1950)
  • The Apostolic Fathers: An American Translation, Harper & Brothers. (published 1950)
• Cyril C. Richardson (translated ~1953)
  • Early Christian Fathers (published 1953)
    • read online
• Robert A. Kraft (translated ~1965)
  • Barnabas and the Didache. Volume 3 of The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation and Commentary, Thomas Nelson & Sons (published 1965)
    • read online(revised version)
• Maxwell Staniforth/A. Louth (translated 1968/revised 1987)
  • Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers, Penguin (published 1987)
• Michael W. Holmes (translated 1989-2007)
  • The Apostolic Fathers in English, Baker Academic (various editions, published 1989-2006)
  • The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of Their Writings, Baker Academic (various editions, published 1992-2007)
  • The Two Ways: The Early Christian Vision of Discipleship from the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas, Plough Publishing House (published 2018) – text/ePub & text/PDF
• Kurt Niederwimmer/Linda M. Maloney (translated into English ~1998 by Linda Maloney from a German translation from ~1989-1993 by Kurt Niederwimmer)
  • The Didache: A Commentary on the Didache, Fortress Press (published 1998, based on the 2nd edition of the German Die Didache, Kommentar zu den Apostolischen Vätern which was published 1993)
• Aaron Milavec (translated ~2003)
  • The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and Commentary, Liturgical Press/Paulist Press (published 2003) — facsimile/preview
• Bart D. Ehrman (translated ~2003)
  • The Apostolic Fathers, Volume I, Harvard University Press (published 2003)
• William Varner (translated ~2007)
  • The Way of the Didache: The First Christian Handbook, University Press of America (published 2007)
• Anthony H. Jones (translated ~2009)
  • The Teaching of the Twelve, Paraclete Press (published 2009) — text/PDF
• Thomas O’Loughlin (translated ~2010)
  • The Didache: A Window On The Earliest Christians, SPCK Publishing/Baker Academic (published 2010) — facsimile/preview
• Anonymous (translated ~2012 but updated since)
  • The Teaching (published 2012, but revised since) — text/PDF
• R. Joseph Owles (translated ~2014)
  • The Didache: The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (published 2014)
• Toby Janicki (translated ~2016)
  • The Way of Life: the Rediscovered Teachings of the Twelve Jewish Apostles to the Gentiles, Vine of David/First Fruits of Zion (published 2016)
• Rick Brannan (translated ~2017)
  • The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation, Lexham Press (published 2017)
• Shawn J. Wilhite (translated ~2019)
  • The Didache: A Commentary, Cascade Books (published 2019) — facsimile/preview