Christians: How much more unity would there be in the Church if the Didache had been canonized as Scripture?

Question

The Didache (also known as The Teaching of the Twelve Disciples) gives specific instructions on such things as Holy Baptism and the Eucharist. In other words, what is written clears up a lot of the things Christian denominations fight about. The problem is that it wasn't discovered until the 19th century, and it's a composite work, so there's no definite way of knowing who wrote it. But some say the earliest parts of the Didache were written around 50 AD, which would make it even older than the Synoptic Gospels. Should it then be added to the Bible? Why or why not? And if it were, how much difference would it make in the Church? Would there not be more unity?

Here is one English translation:
http://ivanlewis.com/Didache/didache.html

What are your thoughts?

*correction*
The Didache's other title is ''The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,'' not ''Disciples.''

Answer 1

The problem is of course that no one knows who wrote it or when it was written. Those who state it to be written in 50 C.E. are being , optimistic shall we say. Here is another excellent resourse if you are interested.

Answer 2

Well, I don't think it should be added to the Bible, because there's no telling who the author is.

Not only that, but it only sums up pretty much all the books in the New Testament that are thought to have been written by apostles, or by people close to the apostles.

It is, however, in my opinion an inspired piece of literature, and is very valuable to Christian teachings. I'd encourage a church to use it as a separate document.

Answer 3

Hard to say. One of the biggest criteria the Council of Nicea used was the identity of the author. Since we really don't have any idea who the author is, we can't test their credentials against the rest of scripture.

Personally, I think that it's valuable information that couldn't possibly hurt the church, regardless of whether it was actually added to the physical text of the Bible. But again, until we know where it came from we can't really put too much weight into it.

EDIT:
I wish that I'd read this before my baptism. It was conducted at the end of what we call our 'Jamboree Sunday,' so it came after a big meal, an auction and raffle (raising money for our various missions), and a show by a Christian strongman.

Answer 4

This is very useful information and would certainly clear up some disagreements. But I don't think it should be added to the Bible since we don't really know the authors or when it was written. For all we know, it could be a hoax.

However, it would be very helpful to use as study material in our walk with Christ. I particularly find interesting the parts about false prophets asking for money. How often do we see this out of televangelists?

Answer 5

I do not think they can be relied upon and they should not be added to t he bible but if they are believed to be true then they should be published as a separate book.

Answer 6

worthy of consideration as many scriptures not included in the original new testament are .let us consider the bible as a pretty good start.