The Didache: Key to the Acts-Galatians Conundrum

Combined Paul and Acts Seminars

According to Richard Pervo it is, 'well beyond reasonable doubt', that the meeting between Paul and the Apostles reported in Acts 15 is the same as the meeting described in Galatians 2.1-10. But this creates a conundrum: why does Luke's version of the events in and around this Council differ so substantially from Paul's? The apparent disjunction between the two texts resolves, however, if the Apostolic Decree was 'double-edged' - capable of being used to support both Paul's position and that of his opponents. This paper proposes that a double-edged text with all the properties required is the earliest form of the Didache.
A essay with further related arguments is available as 'Salvation by One Step or Two? The Didache, Acts and the Background to Galatians' in "The Teaching of These Words”:  Intertextuality, Social Identity,and Early Christianity Essays in Honor of Clayton N. Jefford, Edited by Jonathan A. Draper, Nancy D. Pardee and Shawn J. Wilhite (Brill, July 2024). A blog in this topic is also available.

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