The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Didascalia Apostolorum: A Common Jewish Christian Milieu?

摘要

Recent discussion of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs has been mired in a debate about whether the work is Jewish or Christian. But the nineteenth-century consensus was nearer the mark: the work is both Jewish and Christian, i.e. it comes from a Jewish Christian milieu. This study first adduces general considerations in favour of this hypothesis, then mounts a specific argument based on the similarities between the Testaments and the Didascalia Apostolorum. The two documents come from a similar time and place (Syria in the late second to early third century), but are on opposite sides: the Didascalia is arguing against the sort of Torah-observant Jewish Christianity that the Testaments advocate.