Authorship and
Date
The author of The
Epistle to Diognetus writes with skill and perception and is as concerned
with style as content. The purpose and plan of the work are fairly clear: the
author seeks to answer three specific inquiries regarding the nature and
significance of the Christian faith (sec. 1). The answers given betray the
author’s deep indebtedness to both Hellenism and Judaism, but everything that
has been borrowed has been put to use within a distinctly Christian perspective
and for a clear missionary purpose. In many respects the author anticipates
later Alexandrian writers.
Beyond this, much
about this document remains a mystery. The author is anonymous, the identity of
the recipient is uncertain, the date is unknown, the ending is missing, and,
rather surprisingly, no ancient or medieval writer is known to have mentioned it.
. . .
The date of the
document is a matter of conjecture as well. Reasonable suggestions range from
117 to after 313. Between 150 and 224 seems the most likely; Lightfoot,
Meecham, and Frend favor the earlier of these dates, while R. M. Grant places
it somewhat later. (Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek and
English Translations [3d ed.; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2007],
687-68, 689)
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