“There the Lord is”: Identifying the Kyrios in the Didache
While observed by commentators, only two works provide sustained explorations the Didache’s ambiguous use of ho kyrios (the Lord). These studies reach opposing conclusions. Aaron Milavec contends that kyrios always refers to Israel’s God and never to Jesus. Murray Smith argues that it consistently d...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
2024
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| In: |
Biblical theology bulletin
Year: 2024, Volume: 54, Issue: 2, Pages: 130-141 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Didache
/ kyrios
/ Christology
/ Jesus Christus
/ God
/ Church fathers
/ Bi-valence
|
| IxTheo Classification: | FA Theology KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity NBF Christology |
| Further subjects: | B
Christology
B Murray Smith B Aaron Milavec B Binitarianism B Didache B Apostolic Fathers |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | While observed by commentators, only two works provide sustained explorations the Didache’s ambiguous use of ho kyrios (the Lord). These studies reach opposing conclusions. Aaron Milavec contends that kyrios always refers to Israel’s God and never to Jesus. Murray Smith argues that it consistently denotes, or at least includes, Jesus as its referent. This essay argues that Milavec and Smith’s claims are complementary. The Didache interconnects the identity of Jesus and Israel’s God, establishing them as the concomitant referent(s) of kyrios. Neither God nor Jesus is labeled ho kyrios explicitly. Both are insinuated to be ho kyrios simultaneously. The Didache does not require over-determining one as the sole referent throughout the text. Where context allusively suggests God or Jesus as the primary referent, each use of kyrios contains sufficient ambiguity to include both. The cumulative effect is that the referent(s) of ho kyrios in the Didache is simultaneously theological and Christological. Jesus and God are distinguishable but inextricably linked as ho kyrios. The Didache’s bivalent use of ho kyrios, then, reflects a high Christology. |
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| ISSN: | 1945-7596 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Biblical theology bulletin
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/01461079241252824 |