Lecture – Alan Garrow

The Didache Discoveries: Two Missing Books of the Bible (live lecture)

In 1873 Archbishop Philotheos Bryennios discovered the only surviving copy of a text called ‘The Didache’ or ‘The Teaching of the Lord, by the Twelve Apostles, to the Gentiles’. This book nearly achieved inclusion in the New Testament canon. After it was placed in the ‘second rank’, it disappeared for well over a thousand years. Since its rediscovery it has baffled scholars. No one has been able to work out who wrote it, when, where or why. In this lecture Alan Garrow presents a new solution to the puzzle. The Didache is not a single text. Instead, it is two that have been spliced together and overlaid with additional material. When that process is reversed two ancient treasures emerge. The first is the Complete Apostolic Decree (mentioned in Acts 15), the earliest Christian document and the text that set Christianity on course to become a religion separate from Judaism. The second is the Missing Epistle of John (mentioned in 3 John 9), a text that helps illuminate doctrines and practices that remain essential for Christians today.

Speaker Bio

Alan Garrow is Vicar of St Peter’s Harrogate and a Member of the Sheffield Centre for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies. He has published widely in the field of New Testament studies and has a particular interest in how the New Testament texts were used in early Christian worship. More information about his research and writing is available at www.alangarrow.com.