Dunno-- but it is, I think the earliest thing we have resembling a catechism. It's short and to the point, and well worth reading. There is room for some debate about its age, and mid-1st vs early to mid 2nd century seems to come down to whether a given scholar thinks it was written with or without knowledge of the gospel of Matthew and some esoteric vocabulary choices. (shrugs) I'm not a koine scholar, so I just go with Aaron Milavec, who wrote the translation and commentary I've read. He puts it on the earlier side of the range, but without hazarding a precise number.
Another fun early text (150ce or before) is the protoevangelion of James, which gives us the story of Mary in rather more detail than the gospels :) but doesn't have the bits about the life of the early church contained in the Didache.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2020-10-04 02:42 am (UTC)Another fun early text (150ce or before) is the protoevangelion of James, which gives us the story of Mary in rather more detail than the gospels :) but doesn't have the bits about the life of the early church contained in the Didache.