The Teaching of the 12

The Didache is an eminently simple and practical 1st century guide to Christianity that uses Jewish documents and traditions to help those new to the way of Jesus understand and practice their faith. It shares much with the New Testament and at first feels familiar, even redundant. Underneath the surface it reveals a great deal about the community it was written to serve and the formative days of what came to be called the Christian Faith. \\r\\n\\r\\nIn The Teaching of the 12 Tony Jones approach to the Didache is suitably simple and practical. He starts with a bit of his own journey with the text in chapter one and outlines its rediscovery and the basic outline of the book. Chapter two is taken up by the Didache itself. In Chapter three He explains something of the Community that produced the Didache and another modern community that is engaging with the text. Chapters 4-7 each unpack a section of the book outlining sources, making comparisons with the Old and New Testament and explaining historical contexts. This section is in no way academic but is scholarly. Each section includes reference to the real world implications of the teaching in the Didache and concludes with the very straightforward perspective of ?Trucker Frank?. \\r\\n\\r\\nTony?s book didn?t answer all my questions but he treats his subject with great gentleness and this was a fantastic introduction to the Didache.