Clayton Jefford: SC Defining Exceptions in the Didache

A prominent question with respect to the Didache relates to the issue of literary development and whether the work represents a single voice or, alternatively, the compilation of several editorial layers. Despite recent arguments in favor of the former (see Milavec 2003, Varner 2007, and O'Loughlin 2010), a majority of scholars remains in favor of the latter, though academic division of the work into separate editorial segments remains quite diverse (cf. Niederwimmer 1989, Garrow 2004, and Pardee 2013). Acknowledging the legitimacy of the latter view, this paper will examine a potentially unique editorial hand within the text that has inserted certain "exception clauses" throughout the Didache. Most easily recognized among these clauses are exceptions to standard practices in relationship to food ritual found at 6.2-3 and with respect to baptism at 7.2-3. But other evidence for this voice may be evident elsewhere within the text, most notably with respect to those who wish to settle within the community at 12.3 and concerning the absence of prophets at 13.4. The primary argument of the paper thus will be to identify the parameters of this unique voice within the text and provide motivation for its presence as witness to the progressive evolution of the Didache's literary development.