James' Missing Mirror
Presented at the Later Epistles Seminar, British New Testament Society, University of Manchester, 1-3 September, 2025
Abstract
There is every reason to suppose that James 1:21–25 refers, in different ways, to a single written authority. The “implanted word” is also the “word” the reader is enjoined to hear and do; which is also the mirror into which he or she may look; which is also the perfect law; which is also the law of liberty. This set of instructions was evidently well-known to the intended audience—they probably received it at baptism—but its precise identity has long since been lost to us.
In 1883, Philotheos Bryennios discovered a multi-layered text with two features of interest. Not only does the Didache’s “Two Ways” contain every command specifically referred to in James but also it serves as a pre-baptismal catechism—causing it to fit the description of an “implanted word.”
This paper, part of the Didache Discoveries project, argues that the lost foundational Scripture presupposed by James was the Apostolic Decree—a document hidden within the folds of Bryennios’ Didache.
Abstract
There is every reason to suppose that James 1:21–25 refers, in different ways, to a single written authority. The “implanted word” is also the “word” the reader is enjoined to hear and do; which is also the mirror into which he or she may look; which is also the perfect law; which is also the law of liberty. This set of instructions was evidently well-known to the intended audience—they probably received it at baptism—but its precise identity has long since been lost to us.
In 1883, Philotheos Bryennios discovered a multi-layered text with two features of interest. Not only does the Didache’s “Two Ways” contain every command specifically referred to in James but also it serves as a pre-baptismal catechism—causing it to fit the description of an “implanted word.”
This paper, part of the Didache Discoveries project, argues that the lost foundational Scripture presupposed by James was the Apostolic Decree—a document hidden within the folds of Bryennios’ Didache.