I’ve indicated that the book of 1 Clement is rather long and seems a bit rambling in places to many of its readers, when its only real goal is to tell some usurpers in the church of Corinth to give the reins of power back to the duly appointed church leaders. I read it differently.  I think that it makes rather marvelous connections between things that one would normally think of as unrelated in an extended effort to show the wayward upstarts in Corinth that they have taken over the church illicitly. Who woulda thought that the sun, moon, and stars, the seasons ,the boundaries of the sea, and the winds reveal that God wants the original leaders given their authority back? Or that the Myth of the Phoenix (first discussed in the western tradition six centuries earlier by Herodotus) would have any relevance? This author thinks so! Here are two passages that make the point.  The first (ch. 20) expounds on the regularity of nature as established by God, in order to [...]

This will be my final post on the book of 1 Clement.  Now that I’ve summarized what the book is about and said something about its author, I can turn to the question of when it was written.  The time of its writing is an important question, for a reason you might not suspect. It is almost always said – I myself regularly say this, as a kind of simple “short hand,” knowing that it’s probably not literally true -- that the books of the New Testament are the “earliest” Christian writings we have.  In fact, if, as is often thought, Revelation was written around 95 CE, and 2 Peter around 120 and Acts possibly (?) around them as well, then a couple of other Christian books may have ante-dated them, including 1 Clement and the Didache, two of the apostolic fathers.  The letters of Ignatius of Antioch were almost certainly written around 110 CE. So, the big question here is: when did this anonymous author from Rome write the book of 1 Clement?   This [...]

Now that I’ve completed the “New Testament in a Nutshell” series, with posts summarizing each of the twenty-seven books, explaining their major themes and emphases; when, why, and by whom they were written; giving suggestions for further reading; questions to reflect on; and summaries of the summaries – it is time to move on. And where better to move than to the early Christian writings from outside the New Testament – some of which were considered to belong to the New Testament by various church leaders and authors, for centuries.  Really? Yup.  One of our earliest manuscripts of the New Testament (codex Sinaiticus; from around 375 CE) includes the Shepherd of Hermas and the letter of Barnabas; another (codex Alexandrinus; from around 400 CE) includes 1 and 2 Clement. Some church fathers thought the Didache should belong; or the Apostolic Constitutions, or the Apocalypse of Peter; or …. But what are these books?  One thing we can say about all of them: they are less well known among the general populace than [...]