THE DIDACHE: A COMMENTARY.

THE DIDACHE: A COMMENTARY. By Kurt Niederwimmer. Translated from the German by Linda M. Maloney. Edited by Harold W. Attridge. Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998. Pp. xxvii + 288.

Since close study of the Didache, an early "proto-church order" of 16 relatively short chapters, remains of paramount importance for New Testament, early Church, and liturgical scholars and students, it is nothing short of sheer delight to have Niederwimmer's commentary now available for a much wider audience. Maloney's English translation is excellent. There is no question but that this commentary will rapidly become the standard English text and beginning point for further and ongoing study.

Together with the most helpful organization of the materials (under the subheadings of "analysis" and "comment" in most chapters), four features in particular stand out. First, the translation of each chapter of the Greek text is superb. Although several portions of the Greek text also appear in the commentary, one wishes that the entire Greek version had been supplied in a parallel column at the beginning of each chapter. The complete text of the Didache itself is certainly short enough to have made this possible. Second, N.'s introduction clearly details the several complex problems in the textual and manuscript history of the document, the "didachist's" sources (the Jewish-Christian "Two Ways" document, archaic liturgical traditions, a tradition about the reception of itinerant "charismatics," and a brief apocalypse), as well as the final redaction into what ultimately became the document known as the Didache. Against previously held theories about its development (e.g. Audet's), N. posits a Christian author or redactor, at the beginning of the second century, who organized this book of rules from the available written and oral sources at his disposal into a "compilation." As scholars have long held, the Didache is not, thus, a complete work "written" by a single author but a composite text in which various layers or strata can be discerned. Third, while N. assumes that the document in its current form can still be dated at the beginning of the second century, wisely, in this reviewer's opinion, he does not offer a conclusion as to its provenance. Although not ruling out Egypt as a possibility, he suggests that Syria remains a likely candidate. Fourth, one of the great values of this commentary are surely the various excursuses N. offers throughout (e.g., on "types of water," and on "Jewish fasting practice"), which serve to contextualize the material.

As one whose primary interest in the Didache is as a liturgical source, I find N.'s treatment of baptism (125-30) and Eucharist (139-67) to be of solid critical scholarship and generally compelling. I am not fully convinced, however, that the so-called baptismal "formula" in Didache 7:1 is a liturgical formula "to be spoken during the baptism." And I wish that N. had done more to attempt a resolution of the long scholarly debate over whether the "eucharistic" prayers in Didache 9 are for a sacramental Eucharist or another type (agape?) of community meal. N. seems to favor the commonly held opinion that the prayers of Didache 9 are intended for this community meal and those of Didache 10 for the sacramental Eucharist, and it is probably unfair to expect a "commentary" to do more than lay out various options or possibilities rather than provide firm conclusions. Similarly, while N.'s scholarship is impeccable and clearly demonstrates a command of the scholarly literature, I wish he had incorporated more of the work of Thomas Talley (e.g., the English version of his "From Berakah to Eucharistia" should have been listed in the bibliography), John Riggs (e.g., his earlier study of the meal prayers in the Didache is not included), and, especially, the more recent work of Enrico Mazza on the origins of the eucharistic prayer, for whom the meal prayers of Didache 9 and 10 figure so prominently in his attempt at interpreting early Christian anaphoral construction in general.

Finally, this is an excellent piece of work which draws together in one place a veritable wealth of scholarship on the Didache, together with abundant text-critical notes, numerous parallels or use of the Didache in other early Christian literature, a sizeable bibliography in various languages, and most helpful indices. I highly recommend the purchase and use of this commentary.

MAXWELL E. JOHNSON

University of Notre Dame

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Author:	JOHNSON, MAXWELL E.
Publication:	Theological Studies
Date:	Jun 1, 2000
Words:	716
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