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APOSTOLIC FATHERS

A collection of early Christian writings held to have been written by disciples or close associates of the apostles. Usually included in the Apostolic Fathers are the Didache, 1 Clement, 2 Clement, Barnabas, the letters of Ignatius, the letter(s) of Polycarp to the Philippians, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the writings of Papias. Sometimes included are the Martyrdom of Polycarp, a work better classified with the early martyr literature, and the Epistle to Diognetus, which belongs with the apologetical literature.

The description of certain individuals who were not apostles as “apostolic” goes back to the ancient Church (e.g., Mart. Pol. 1.2), but the modern designation of an actual group of writings as Apostolic Fathers derives from the 17th century. A collection of five of these authors was published in 1672 by Jean Baptiste Cotelier, and the term “Apostolic Fathers” was applied by William Wake in 1693 to his translation of 1 Clement, Polycarp, Ignatius, Martyrdom of Ignatius, Martydom of Polycarp, Barnabas, Hermas, and 2 Clement.

The name was based on the presumed connection of some of the authors with the apostles, a presumption now regarded as unlikely in most cases. The justification for keeping these works together as a distinctive body of literature is that they form the earliest noncanonical Christian writings not belonging to another classification and not associated with later heretical developments. Their dates fall between the latter part of the 1st century (Didache [?], 1 Clement) to the middle of the 2nd century (Hermas [?]). As with the NT authors but unlike the apologists, the Apostolic Fathers were writing to and for Christians.

These writings were highly regarded in the early Church, and some hovered on the boundary of canonicity; e.g., the biblical Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) included Barnabas and the Shepherd, and Codex Alexandrinus (5th century) included 1 and 2 Clement. The works of Clement and Ignatius in many respects represent characteristics that emerged in Western and Eastern Christianity respectively. They have been the most influential of the Apostolic Fathers, although through much of history this influence came about pseudonymously through expansions to Ignatius’ letters and false ascriptions of other works to Clement.

The grouping together of the Apostolic Fathers is in many respects arbitrary. They overlap in date the later NT writings (e.g. Revelation) and the early NT apocrypha and pseudepigrapha (Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Peter; Barnabas is perhaps pseudonymous), as well as the early apologists (Quadratus, Aristides) and acts of the martyrs (Mart. Pol., Acts of Justin). They represent a variety of literary types: church order (Didache); letter (Ignatius, Polycarp); letter treatise (1 Clement; Barnabas); sermon (2 Clement); apocalypse (Hermas); and perhaps commentary (Papias). They show the geographical spread of Christianity: Rome (Hermas, 1 Clement, the latter addressed to Corinth), Smyrna (Polycarp, addressed to Philippi), Antioch (Ignatius, addressed to cities in Asia), Syria (Didache [?]), and Alexandria (Barnabas [?]). They reflect the various religio-cultural influences at work in early Christianity: e.g., the compiler of the Didache lives in the atmosphere of Judaism, but Ignatius is a Hellenist and sees Christ as replacing the Jewish heritage.

Each of the Apostolic Fathers represents some of the distinctive concerns of Christians of the third generation: matters of instruction of new converts, worship, and church organization (Didache); internal unity (1 Clement); Christian living (2 Clement; Polycarp); the related matter of involvement in the affairs of the world and availability of repentance for post-baptismal sins (Hermas); the relation to Jews and the place of the OT (Barnabas); false teaching and how to meet its threat (Ignatius); and eschatological expectation (Papias). For the most part they addressed the practical needs of Christian communities and not speculative theology.

For all their diversity in personality and concerns, the Apostolic Fathers exhibit some general characteristics. They were earnest and pious individuals struggling to preserve the apostolic teachings in the early years after the living apostolic presence was removed. Not great creative thinkers themselves, they did apply originality to certain traditional Christian materials. They sought to be faithful to the fundamental Christian affirmation of the one God, salvation in his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in the visible Church of believers, whose unity they sought to maintain against various threats. Although each used Scripture in his own way, there are manifold citations of the Bible (especially the OT) and a common commitment to its authority as interpreted in the light of the coming of Christ. They were all very concerned with the Christian life-style in relation to the surrounding world. They are often accused of representing a falling away from the Pauline doctrines of grace and faith, but this charge derives from a one-sided understanding of Paul and fails to take into account the situations in which the respective Apostolic Fathers wrote. For the most part, they assumed the basis of salvation and addressed its consequences in the lives of believers. They are confessedly inferior to the apostolic writings in spiritual insight and inspiration, but this does not diminish the significance of their testimony to Christian life and thought at a crucial time in the Church’s history.

Bibliography. E. J. Goodspeed, Index Patristicus (1907, repr. Peabody, 1993); R. M. Grant, ed., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1 (New York, 1964); C. N. Jefford, Reading the Apostolic Fathers (Peabody, 1996); J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, 1992); Oxford Society of Historical Theology, The New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers (Oxford, 1905).

Everett Ferguson

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

APOSTOLIC FATHERS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)