Apostolic Fathers
As apostolic fathers are Christian authors of ecclesiastical important writings from the late first and the first half of the second century called. When the name was coined in the 17th century, it was believed that they had personal relationships with apostles or were heavily influenced by the apostles. Also called the Apostolic Fathers is a canon of scriptures handed down by these Church Fathers of the second and third generation.
Pope Benedict XVI describes them as the "second generation of the Church after the apostles".
Some Apostolic Fathers are also known from historical documents; there is no reliable biographical information about others. Overall, the sources for the time of the Apostolic Fathers are worse than for any other epoch in church history; many developments of that time can no longer be reconstructed in detail today.
The Apostolic Fathers
They are commonly counted among the Apostolic Fathers today
- Clement of Rome
- the unknown author of the so-called Second Clement's Letter
- Ignatius of Antioch
- Polycarp of Smyrna
- Papias of Hierapolis (only quotations from his writings are preserved)
- Quadratus of Athens (only a short quote has been preserved)
- Hermas, the otherwise unknown author of the Shepherd of Hermas
- the unknown author of the Didache
- the unknown author of the letter to Barnabas
- the unknown author of the letter of "Mathetes" to Diognetus (Mathetes means "disciple" and is not a proper name)
Some of these writings (Barnabas Letter , First Clement Letter , Shepherd of Hermas, Didache) were sometimes included in the New Testament canon in the 2nd and 3rd centuries , but were not definitely included.
Regardless of their historical and current standing, all of these scriptures provide an important glimpse into the history of early Christianity.
Other important authors of the early Church, who, since they belong to a later generation, are no longer counted among the Apostolic Fathers but are referred to as Church Fathers, are Irenaeus of Lyons , Justin Martyr , Clement of Alexandria and Cyprian .
Canon of the Apostolic Fathers
The Canon of the Apostolic Fathers includes:
- Didache (doctrine of the twelve apostles)
- Barnabas letter
- First letter to Clement
- Second letter to Clement
- The letters of Ignatius of Antioch :
- To the Ephesians
- To the magnesians
- To the Traller
- To the Romans
- To the Philadelphians
- To the Smyrneans
- To Polycarp
- From and about Polycarp
- The Polycarp Letter
- The polycarp martyrdom
- The Diognetbrief
- The shepherd of Hermas
- Papias fragments and quadratus fragments
See also
expenditure
-
Writings of early Christianity. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt
- 1. The Apostolic Fathers . Edited by Joseph A. Fischer. 1956 (1 Clem, Ign, Polyk, Quadr).
- 2. Didache (apostolic teaching). Barnabas letter. Second Klemensbrief. Writing to Diognet . Edited by Klaus Wengst . 1985.
- 3. Fragments of papias. Shepherd of Hermas . Edited by Ulrich HJ Körtner , Martin Leutzsch . 1998.
- Complete edition. 2nd edition 2011.
- Andreas Lindemann , Henning Paulsen (Ed.): The Apostolic Fathers. Greek-German parallel edition . JCB Mohr [Paul Siebeck], Tübingen 1992, ISBN 3-16-145887-7
- Bart D. Ehrman (Ed.): The Apostolic Fathers Loeb Classical Library , 2 Vols. Harvard University Press, Cambridge 2003-2005.
- Michael W. Holmes (Ed.): The Apostolic Fathers. Greek Texts and English Translations , 3rd ed. Baker, Grand Rapids / Michigan 2007
- Volumes in the series Sources Chrétiennes , Paris: Cerf (published: Clemens, Ignatius and Polycarp, Didache, Barnabas letter, Shepherd des Hermas, Diognet letter)
literature
- Norbert Brox , Georg Kretschmar , Kurt Niederwimmer (eds.): Commentary on the Apostolic Fathers (KAV) . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1990ff (published: Didache, First Clemensbrief, Polykarpbriefe, Martyrium des Polkarp, Shepherd des Hermas, Barnabasbrief)
- Arnd Herrmann: Fear and overcoming fear among the Apostolic Fathers in relation to the philosophical concepts of their time. Publishing house Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2020, ISBN 978-3-339-11488-4
- Heinrich Kraft, Ursula Treu: Clavis patrum apostolicorum . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1963 ( concordance on the Apostolic Fathers without taking the Diognetbriefs and the Papias fragments into account).
- Wilhelm Pratscher (Ed.): The Apostolic Fathers. An introduction . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-525-03637-2 (also published in the UTB series, ISBN 978-3-8252-3272-6 )
- Timothy B. Sailors: Bryn Mawr Classical Review: Review of The Apostolic Fathers. Greek Texts and English Translations. Provides a good overview and evaluation of the most recent editions of the Apostolic Fathers.
Web links
- Apostolic Fathers in German translation in the electronic library of the Church Fathers
- Wilhelm Pratscher: Apostolic Fathers. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (eds.): The scientific biblical dictionary on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff., Accessed on October 29, 2015.