Jewish Roots
The Apostolic Fathers as a corpus
feature ancient Jewish traditions reflective eschatological orientations,
apocalyptic tracts, and oral teachings arising within the late Persian (intertestamental)
period. Such tendencies are apparent in works such as the Didache, Barnabas, 1
Clement, Polycarp, Shepherd of Hermas, and fragments of Papias, which from the
outset give indication of the broad influence of such trajectories.
Simultaneously, though opposed to the influence of Judaism as a culture
generally, even comments by Ignatius and the Martyrdom of Polycarp indicate how
broad an impact Jewish principles had on the early patristic landscape. On the
other end of this evolution are texts like Diognetus and 2 Clement, which offer
little to no sign of Jewish eschatological or apocalyptic thought, preferring instead
a definitive, philosophically oriented image of the institutional church
constructed within the boundaries of what was seen within the second century as
a more socially acceptable Greek and Roman matrix of images and cultural identities.
This is ultimately echoed in the voice of the author of Diognetus, who
advocates for a believer’s need to assume some mimetic tradition of discipleship
rather than promises of future reward—to a great extent akin to what appears
later in the literature of Clement of Alexandria and beyond.
The roots of this tradition as adopted
by the Apostolic Fathers can hardly be determined with specificity, though
hints at motifs from 4 Ezra, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and Odes of Solomon are evident
in writings such as 1 Clement and Shepherd of Hermas, and likely even stood
behind and against the perspectives of Ignatius as he developed his own
awareness of eschatological meaning. Most prevalent here are themes such as “two
city” (earthly and heavenly) orientation, reclamation of the earth, reward and
punishment in an afterlife, hope within history of a meaningful future, and
motivations for personal piety and self-sacrifice that are supported by
numerous Jewish authors outside the canon. At the same time, of course, authors
of Hebrew Scripture such as Second Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Malachi, and
Zechariah (and others) conveyed parallel ideas speedily embraced by the
Didache, 1 Clement, Barnabas, etc. The extent to which New Testament writers
tapped into this same trove of literature (both canonical and noncanonical)
necessarily suggests that both corpora of texts relied on Jewish works and
motifs for their ideas. Eschatological ideas in the lips of Jesus in the
Gospels, Paul’s use of end-time imagery in his letters to the churches at
Thessalonica and Corinth, dependence on oral traditions by Jude, and
apocalyptic imagery in Revelation all provide evidence of this trend. The problem
for research into the Apostolic Fathers is identifying the extent to which its own
authors drew from a comparative cache of eschatological literature rather than
from the New Testament authors directly. The answer to this question must vary
from text to text; author to author, but in either case, clearly Jewish motifs
lie at the foundation of relevant eschatological questions. (Clayton N Jefford,
“Eschatology in the Apostolic Fathers,” in The Apostolic Fathers, ed. Paul
Foster [Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies 4; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan
Academic, 2025], 396-97)
