BMCR 2009.07.08: Sailors on Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations. 3rd edition

Michael W. Holmes (ed.), The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English
Translations. 3rd edition.  Grand Rapids:  Baker Academic, 2007.  Pp.
xxv, 806.  ISBN 9780801034688.  $42.99.

Reviewed by Timothy B. Sailors, University of Tuebingen
([email protected])
Word count:  4282 words
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This third edition of the Apostolic Fathers, edited and translated by
Michael W. Holmes, traces its origins back to the bilingual edition of
J. B. Lightfoot collected, edited, and published posthumously by J. R.
Harmer in 1891. Holmes revised the Greek texts and English translations
of this nineteenth-century work in 1992 and published an updated
edition in 1999. The new edition under review here, however, has shed
almost all vestiges of Lightfoot-Harmer and stands on its own as an
independent critical edition of the Greek texts and English
translations of the Apostolic Fathers.

The volume contains introductions to and editions and translations of
the following works: First Clement, Second Clement, the Letters of
Ignatius of Antioch, the Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians, the
Martyrdom of Polycarp, the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, the
Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistle to Diognetus, the Fragment of
Quadratus, and Fragments of Papias. Apart from the new Greek-German
volumes by A. Lindemann and H. Paulsen (Tuebingen 1992) and J. A.
Fischer, K. Wengst, U. H. J. Koertner, and M. Leutzsch (3 vols.,
Darmstadt 1984-1998), the most comparable edition of the Apostolic
Fathers to the one under review is that found in the Loeb Classical
Library. First appearing in 1912-1913 and edited by K. Lake, these
Greek-English volumes have recently been updated in a completely new
edition and translation by B. D. Ehrman (2003, review in BMCR
2004.03.53).[[1]] There are some advantages to the new edition by
Holmes over those of his predecessors. The Loeb edition is bound in two
volumes, while that of Holmes is conveniently bound as a single volume.
Though Lindemann-Paulsen is also in one volume, the edition under
review is both hardcover and of a more convenient size -- improvements
too over the second, updated edition which it replaces. (Those who
regularly work with early Christian literature will notice that its
dimensions are virtually identical to the standard Nestle-Aland hand
edition of the Greek New Testament.) And physically the book is
well-produced -- a solidly bound hardcover sans dust-jacket but
including a bookmark, i.e., a signet or "finding ribbon" bound into the
volume.

I. General Introduction

After front matter that includes a list of abbreviations (xxi-xxiii) --
a feature found neither in Lindemann-Paulsen nor in the Loeb edition --
Holmes begins with a general introduction to the Apostolic Fathers
(3-31). Whereas the introduction to the Loeb edition consists of an
excellent discussion of the history and nature of the collection known
as the Apostolic Fathers, in his introduction Holmes addresses much
broader issues, setting the stage for the reader by explaining not only
the collection, but also the historical setting in which the works were
composed and the place of the Apostolic Fathers in the study of early
Christian history.

Holmes naturally recognizes the artificiality of the corpus now known
as the Apostolic Fathers. And he can be commended for condensing
perhaps the most important century in early Christian history to a
dozen pages. One could perhaps wish for slightly more nuance when using
the phrase "the church" as though it were a single, unified, though
very diverse community. And, regarding the transition to the so-called
subapostolic period, one should ask what purported teachings of which
apostles, as interpreted by whom, "defined the center" (12)? That is to
say, "normative" should not be equated with "proto-orthodox" (12), in
that most if not all forms of early Christianity would have regarded
themselves as "normative", or at the very least, as Holmes avers,
"legitimate" (11). One also reads the occasional infelicity: e.g., it
sounds as though there were "eyewitnesses of the . . . resurrection of
Jesus" (12), the Acts of the Apostles is perhaps too blithely referred
to as "a history of the early church" (12), and certain gospels and
acts are anachronistically called "apocryphal" (14). Apart from this,
Holmes gives a circumspect and judicious description of the spread of
Christianity, its relation to Judaism and Greco-Roman society, its
theological diversity, and the raisons d'e^tre of various early
Christian works of literature and ecclesiological models. This is
followed by a brief but good overview of the role the Apostolic Fathers
have played in the history of research on early Christianity.

The general introduction is followed by a series of bibliographies:
"Texts and Translations", "Guides to Early Christian Literature",
"Collections of Other Early Christian Literature", "History of the Jews
and Judaism", "History of the Early Church", "Early Christian Art and
Archaeology", "Early Christian Doctrine and Practice", "General Works",
"Dictionaries and Encyclopedias", and "Bibliographic Guides". When a
work is available in an English translation, this is almost always
given in place of the original-language edition. While this is helpful
for the English-speaking reader, a reference to the original-language
version would also prove helpful, especially when the translation does
not represent the most recent edition of the work.[[2]] Though this
remains a "Select Bibliography", it greatly expands those in the
previous editions and far surpasses the "Select Bibliography" in the
Loeb edition. There are nevertheless some works one would expect to see
which are surprisingly absent.[[3]] And, though an English edition was
given in the list of abbreviations in earlier versions of this book,
Holmes has removed the potentially helpful reference to W. Bauer's
Griechisch-deutsches Woerterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments
und der fruehchristlichen Literatur, despite the publication of an
English translation of the most recent edition (2000, review in BMCR
2001.06.01).

II. Work-Specific Introductions

In addition to a general introduction to the Apostolic Fathers, Holmes
provides individual introductions to each of the works in this volume.
Issues such as the occasion, authorship, date, and text of each work
are discussed. Though far better than those found in Lindemann-Paulsen,
these contain generally less detail when it comes to standard
introductory issues, summary, and historical context, and markedly less
on the history of (especially older) scholarship and textual history
than the corresponding introductions in the Loeb edition. Occasionally,
more recent arguments that have failed to carry the day, while
criticized, are allotted disproportionate or unnecessary
attention.[[4]]

Unlike the less extensive ones found in the Loeb edition, the
bibliographies given after the introductions to individual works are
helpfully divided into "Commentaries" and "Studies", though a further
subdivision of "(Text) Editions" would have been welcome. The
bibliographies in Lindemann-Paulsen begin with "Textausgaben", and in
his 1999 edition Holmes titles the first of these two subdivisions
"Commentaries and/or Editions". An additional subdivision such as this
would have allowed for the inclusion of important published text
editions or textual witnesses which occasionally fail to appear either
in the notes or in the bibliographies.[[5]]

III. Text and Translation

Where no Greek text is extant, the Latin is printed (see Polycarp to
the Philippians 10-12 and 14 and most of Hermas 107-109 and 111-114).
On the whole, the translations are natural, i.e., they read easily, and
difficulties are generally addressed in the notes to the translation,
unlike in Lindemann-Paulsen and in the Loeb edition, where such notes
are all but non-existent. Moreover, Holmes presents an apparatus to his
Greek text that is more comprehensive than that found in the Loeb
edition. (The apparatus in Lindemann-Paulsen is also substantial,
though -- like the text itself -- it has simply been taken over from
the editions of Funk-Bihlmeyer and Whittaker.) The system Holmes
employs to signal variants in the text parallels that used in the
standard hand edition of the Greek New Testament and therefore marks a
departure from the system used both in Holmes's earlier editions, in
the Loeb editions, and in other editions of the Apostolic Fathers. A
description of the system and the sigla used is found on pp. xxiv-xxv.
This system allows one to see the presence, exact location, and extent
of a variant while reading the text, before looking to the apparatus
for the variant itself and supporting witnesses.

As regards his translation, Holmes has tried to make it gender
inclusive where he takes that to be implied by the Greek and where it
can be so rendered into English gracefully (x-xi). This is most
frequently seen in the translation "brothers and sisters" for many,
though not all, occurrences of <greek>a)delfoi/</greek> (e.g., 1
Clement 46:3, 62:3, Hermas 29:3, 34:7, 39:6, 42:1-2, 43:9 and 13-14,
68:1, and 70:2). No attempt was made at this in the Loeb edition, and
it would have perhaps been better had Holmes not put himself in the
difficult position of having to make decisions regarding the mind of
the ancient author and the meaning of these terms in both ancient and
modern cultures (especially when explicitly gender inclusive
formulations do appear in the Greek of the Apostolic Fathers, i.e., at
2 Clement 19:1, 20:2, Barnabas 1:1, and Hermas 36:7-8).

IV. Back Matter

A "Thematic Analysis" of the Apostolic Fathers (775-779) reproduces the
section headings used in the English translations. Extensive indices
(781-799) include a portion of the "Index of Ancient Sources" that
covers passages from the Apostolic Fathers (when cited in the
introductions or notes) as well as other early Christian literature
(796-799), a feature absent in the indices of the Loeb and
Lindemann-Paulsen editions (though the latter does helpfully provide a
separate index for each individual Apostolic Father). Two maps
(803-805), one of the route of Ignatius and another showing the extent
to which Christianity had spread in the Roman Empire of the first two
centuries, also add a helpful resource not found in other recent
editions of the Apostolic Fathers.

V. First and Second Clement

Holmes has reverted to the titles "1 Clement" and "2 Clement" for these
works; in his previous editions (following C. C. Richardson) they were
"The Letter of the Romans to the Corinthians commonly known as First
Clement" and "An Ancient Christian Sermon commonly known as Second
Clement". This is a welcome change: what the traditional titles lack in
historical exactitude they make up for in euphony and universal
recognition. Questions of genre and authorship are, moreover,
adequately addressed in the introductions to these works. Attention is
also helpfully brought to 1 Clement's indebtedness to some Stoic
concepts (37).

Although Holmes mentions only a single MS containing the Syriac
translation of 1 and 2 Clement (39, 136), there is at least one
additional MS in which a Syriac version of 1 Clement is found
(Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 4).

VI. Letters of Ignatius

In all likelihood, Ignatius was taken to Rome and martyred, but to
write that he was "presumably . . . thrown to the lions in the
Coliseum" (167) goes a bit beyond his statements (and the reports in
Eusebius) that he would be thrown to the beasts (Ephesians 1:2, Romans
4-5, Smyrnaeans 4:2; "lions" are explicitly mentioned first in Jerome,
and Chrysostom is the first to allude to the Flavian Amphitheater).
It's also a pity that A. Brent's Ignatius of Antioch: A Martyr Bishop
and the Origin of Episcopacy (London 2007) appeared shortly before
Holmes's volume and thus escaped the bibliography.

When discussing early Christian literature known to Ignatius, a
footnote recognizing the limitations of what can be demonstrated given
the nature of the ancient evidence states, in part, that "absence of
evidence is not evidence of absence" (175, see too 273); while true,
this could potentially send the uncritical reader down a very slippery
historiographical slope in which positive, though unfalsifiable, claims
are made -- something all too common among some historians of early
Christianity and early Christian literature.

On the text of the letters Holmes writes, "both the Armenian and Arabic
versions appear to have been translated from Syriac; of that version
only three sets of fragments are known" (176). Albeit technically
correct (the statement in the Loeb edition is not), this could stand
some clarification: the known fragments of Syriac versions of the
Letters of Ignatius do fall into three categories: 1) portions of the
abridged "short recension" (in three MSS); 2) fragments of an
unabridged version (in four MSS); and 3) the letter to the Romans as
transmitted together with the Martyrdom of Ignatius (in four MSS). Part
of the significance of the Armenian and Arabic versions is that they
betray the existence of a complete Syriac version of the "middle
recension". One should note too that neither Holmes nor the Loeb
edition mentions that the "short recension" also contains fragments
from Trallians 4 and 5 embedded in the excerpts from Romans.

As regards the order of the letters (177), though not mentioned, the
sequence found in almost all ancient versions confirms the order found
in G (with only the Armenian and Arabic transposing Trallians and
Philadelphians).

VII. Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians and the Epistle of Barnabas

Holmes offers a good, sensible discussion on the integrity of
Polycarp's letter (275-276). Reckoning Marcion, however, among the
"emerging gnostic movement" (272) without further qualification is less
straightforward, even if one accepts the category and despite his place
in later 'genealogies of heresy'.

Twelve (not nine) Greek MSS dating from the 11th-17th centuries form a
group of witnesses deriving from a common archetype designated by the
siglum G (277, 376). All but one of these MSS contain a fused,
incomplete text of Polycarp's Letter to the Philippians and the Epistle
of Barnabas (Polycarp's letter is not extant in MS r). Holmes's
decision not to include MS b is doubtless due to its being a mere
transcription of MS t. The older grouping of the MSS into at least two
distinct families is given only in the introduction to Polycarp's
letter (277) as v o f p / c t[b] n a / s. This arrangement follows
Lightfoot, 2.3.317, though Lightfoot's description of the MSS at
2.1.549 could also suggest the arrangement v o f p / c t[b] n s / a
which appears in the Loeb edition.[[6]] It is, however, surprising and
disappointing that Holmes (as Ehrman before him) has overlooked not
only the more recent and nuanced classification of the MSS by R. A.
Kraft, but also that of F. R. Prostmeier (v o / f p / n t[b] c[s] a d
r), including his description and collation of two previously unnoticed
witnesses (d, Vatican gr. 1655 and r, Vatican gr. 1909).

Likewise, the only Latin MSS of the Letter of Polycarp to the
Philippians listed by Holmes are the nine that were collated by
Lightfoot (277); there are, however, at least thirteen Latin
witnesses.[[7]]

Holmes also fails to mention the traces of the Epistle of Barnabas
extant in Syriac.[[8]]

VIII. Martyrdom of Polycarp

Happily, although B. Dehandschutter's Polycarpiana (Leuven 2007)
appeared at the same time as this volume, Holmes lists among the
witnesses to the Martyrdom the recently rediscovered Codex Kosinitza
(misspelled "Kozinitza", 302), a collation of which was first published
by Dehandschutter in 2006. In Polycarpiana, Dehandschutter incorporated
the readings of this MS into an updated apparatus for the Martyrdom,
though the text there is merely reprinted from his 1979 edition and
runs only through chapter 21 (i.e., it does not include the various
colophons). Fortunately, as is mentioned in his Preface (xi) and can be
seen in his apparatus, Holmes has utilized Codex Kosinitza in
establishing his text of the Martyrdom. The text in Holmes diverges
from Dehandschutter's older text at many points, and also occasionally
differs from that in the Loeb edition (e.g., at 5:2, 9:2, 12:1-3, 14:2,
16:2, 17:3, 19:1, and 20:1-2). Holmes does not mention a ninth MS of
the Martyrdom, Vatican, Ottobonianus gr. 92, though this is merely a
copy of MS v.

It is also encouraging to see that Holmes mentions the as yet
unpublished Old Church Slavonic translation of the Martyrdom of
Polycarp (303) -- an independent witness (i.e., not relying upon
Eusebius) made no later than the tenth century and found in four
Russian MSS from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries --, reference to
which is absent in the Loeb edition.

Of the Martyrdom, Holmes writes that it "is the oldest written account
of a Christian martyrdom outside the New Testament" (298); this is true
insofar as the Martyrdom of Ptolemaeus and Lucius, found in Justin and
therefore perhaps earlier, does not actually narrate the martyrs'
deaths.

IX. Didache

In his introduction to the Didache, Holmes succinctly and helpfully
mentions the question of whether an internal coherence or logic might
be found in the composite document (337), as well as models explaining
its particular affinities to the Gospel of Matthew (338-339, though
without citing the work of A. Garrow at that point). The 'two ways'
topos, "a common Jewish form of moral instruction" (335), finds a prime
example in the Community Rule from Qumran (1QS, 4Q255-264, and 5Q11),
though Holmes does not mention this work.[[9]]

X. Shepherd of Hermas

After the introduction of consecutively numbered chapters in
Whittaker's 1956 edition, the two systems for dividing the text of
Hermas has caused some confusion. Both systems are employed in the Loeb
edition, which combines them into a single running head and subhead in
the text. The way in which the two systems are presented by Holmes is
less confusing. In the running heads, the older system is found in
italics towards the inside margin, and the newer chapter system in
roman type towards the outside. In the text, the older system appears
as italicized subheads, the newer chapter numbers as stickup or raised
initials at the beginning of each chapter. Moreover, Holmes provides a
table conveniently showing the correspondence of the two systems
(450-451) and helpfully discusses the structure of the work in his
introduction (445).

Among other things, Holmes also discusses the social setting reflected
in Hermas (443), mentions the parallel between its similitudes and
those in 1 Enoch (445), and lists its apocalyptic features (445; though
oddly contrasting its concern for contemporary matters with
apocalyptic, which merely veils these concerns with eschatology).

Missing from Holmes's description of the Greek witnesses to the text of
Hermas are Giessen, Universitaetsbibliothek Papyrussammlung, P.
Iandanae inv. 45 (olim 4) (containing a fragment of 43:19-21 and
44:2-3); Birmingham, P. Rendel Harris 128 (containing 25:5 and 7); and
Berlin, Aegyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, P. Berolinensis 21259
(containing a fragment of 14:3-4 and 6). Holmes also fails to mention
the Georgian translation of Hermas; made from a now-lost Arabic version
and containing Vision 5 and the Mandates, it is extant in a single MS
(H-622) in Tbilisi. He does, however, list additional,
recently-published Oxyrhynchus papyri not found in other editions
(449).[[10]]

A few errors (some of which appear to have come directly from the Loeb
edition, though originating in the first edition of Joly) are found in
the information on the Greek textual witnesses to Hermas
(448-449).[[11]]

The translation "lady" for <greek>kuri/a</greek> throughout the
Visions, though also used in the Loeb edition, seems a bit too
colloquial (as would translating <greek>ku/rie</greek> "mister" instead
of "sir"); "madam", used in Holmes's earlier edition, sounds better to
my mind. Also, the translation of the first <greek>e)pi/</greek> in
38:2 is awkward (as it was in Holmes's previous edition); perhaps
(altering his translation of <greek>gnwri/zw</greek>): "Let me know,
sir, . . . in what things it is necessary", or (keeping his translation
of the verb, though with an archaic use of the preposition): "Inform
me, sir, . . . in what things it is necessary".

XI. Epistle to Diognetus and the Fragment of Quadratus

After a brief overview of the challenges faced and strategies employed
by the second-century Christian apologists, Holmes discusses only a few
proposals regarding the authorship of the Epistle to Diognetus, but
wisely declines siding with any of them. Though Eusebius's and Jerome's
statements on Quadratus are mentioned, that of Paulus Orosius (c.
385-420), albeit to be read critically, is not.

XII. Fragments of Papias

Undoubtedly one of the most important features of this edition of the
Apostolic Fathers is the presentation of a fuller array of primary
material related to Papias than is found almost anywhere else,
including not only the Loeb edition but also works dedicated solely to
Papias.

A table (730) conveniently compares the numeration of the Fragments
employed by Holmes with that of six other editions, including the
recent edition by E. Norelli, Papia di Hierapolis (Milan 2005).[[12]]
No other editor apart from Lightfoot includes Holmes's fragment 4 (the
Pericope adulterae as found in Codex Bezae) among the Fragments of
Papias, but Holmes does so since Papias knew one of two earlier stories
that would later be combined into this "traditional" account (as argued
elsewhere by Ehrman). Holmes has helpfully distinguished these
constituent parts of the story by the use of italics and brackets in
the text and translation of his fragment 4. Excluded from Holmes's
collection are Norelli's fragments 20b and 23, though with good reason:
his fragment 20b does not mention Papias and is, according to Norelli
himself, difficult to date back to the second century, let alone to
connect to Papias; and, though the name "Papias" appears before his
fragment 23 as a sort of title, Norelli describes how it has been
convincingly shown to be spurious. Compared to the texts in Norelli,
Holmes presents slightly more abbreviated versions of fragments 2, 7,
9, 10, 13, 16, 17, 19, 21, 24, and 26, much more abbreviated forms of
fragments 11, 15, and 25, and only one of two divergent forms of
fragment 18; though compared to the Loeb edition Holmes gives not only
many more fragments, but more extensive versions of fragments 3, 5, 6,
7, 11, 15, and 21. Naturally, Norelli is able to offer a far more
detailed introduction to Papias than space allows Holmes, and one will
therefore want to consult this, along with his "Nota introduttiva" and
"Note di commento" on the Fragments and his several helpful appendices.
But, the necessarily abbreviated nature of his presentation
notwithstanding, Holmes's edition of the Fragments does improve upon
Norelli's insofar as the texts preserved in Arabic (frag. 23), Armenian
(frag. 24, 25, and 26), and Syriac (frag. 27 and 28) are not
transliterated, but printed using the appropriate fonts.

In addition to the text from Irenaeus and Eusebius in fragment 14,
parallel material is found in 2 Baruch, Hippolytus, the apocryphal
Apocalypse of John, and Diaboli contradictio Jesu Christo
<greek>b</greek>/B. Norelli mentions some of this material in the "Note
di commento" on his fragment 1, but it would have been helpful had
Holmes (and Ehrman) also referred to it.

Fragment 23 is found in the tenth-century Arabic World History or Book
of Titles, by bishop Agapius of Hierapolis. The two published editions
of this work (by L. Cheikho and A. Vasiliev) both rely upon the single
MS preserving the portion of the book containing the Papias fragment
(Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana or. 132); the text in Holmes
generally follows Cheikho's orthography, e.g., with the use of
ligatures.

Armenian fragment 24 is linked to Greek fragment 11, which it replaces
in the Armenian adaptation of Andrew of Caesarea's commentary on the
Apocalypse of John. Since both fragments also discuss the 'fall of
Satan', it has been suggested by F. Siegert that Armenian fragment 24
represents a continuation of Greek fragment 11 and was inserted here by
the translator for this very reason.[[13]] Unfortunately, the Armenian
text reproduced by both Holmes and Siegert (and transliterated by
Norelli) begins only with the explicit mention of Papias in the
introductory formula to the citation from his work. The immediately
preceding material is, however, translated elsewhere by Siegert, who
also points to a virtually identical phrase in the Greek after Fragment
11 and at the beginning of the Papias citation in Fragment 24.[[14]]
Had Holmes reproduced the text immediately after Fragment 11 (like
Norelli) and immediately before Fragment 24, the reader would be in a
better position to evaluate both the relation of these two fragments
and Siegert's observations.

Armenian fragment 25 preserves comments about what Papias wrote
(presumably, as in this fragment, in the context of a discussion about
the anointing of Jesus' body after his death), though not necessarily a
quotation as such. Siegert (followed by Norelli) presents a fuller text
than that found in Holmes, and also observes that the Geography by
Moses of Chorene alluded to here contains virtually identical
statements with no reference to the New Testament or to Papias. This
fragment may therefore reflect a combination of two originally discrete
traditions, one of which consisted of a comment by Papias on the
anointing of Jesus' body for burial in the Gospel of John. An
evaluation of the traditions represented in this fragment would have
been aided had Holmes printed the fuller text.

Following Lightfoot, Holmes also includes some fragments from Irenaeus
relating "traditions of the elders" which some have regarded as coming
from Papias. As to the origin and use of these fragments, Holmes
rightly remains agnostic and cautious.

XIII. Miscellanea

There are a few misspellings, stylistic inconsistencies, typographical
errors, and other mistakes throughout the book.[[15]] In addition, a
handful of bibliographical entries either contain errors or are not
up-to-date.[[16]] And a spot check of the indices also revealed some
inconsistencies, mistakes, and omissions.[[17]]

XIV. Conclusions

Many of the critical observations in this review apply equally to other
editions of the Apostolic Fathers (including the Loeb edition), though
in some areas, Holmes offers marked improvements upon these. The
serious student will still need to consult Lightfoot for fuller
discussions and textual evidence.[[18]] Moreover, more detailed
introductions will have to be sought elsewhere: either in the Loeb
edition, in the (recent or recently augmented) Sources chre/tiennes
volumes, or in commentaries on individual Apostolic Fathers (especially
those in the Kommentar zu den Apostolischen Vaetern series). Holmes has
nevertheless met the need for a reliable, single-volume critical
edition of the Greek texts of the Apostolic Fathers with English
translations. His revision commends itself in many ways as the standard
hand edition of this corpus.


------------------
Notes:


1.   Individual Greek-French volumes (some reissued with addenda and
corrigenda) have appeared in the series Sources chre/tiennes for
Clement (1971/2000), Ignatius and Polycarp (1969/1998), the Didache
(1998), Barnabas (1971), Hermas (1958/1968), and Diognetus (1965/1997).

2.   As is the case, e.g., with Doepp's Dictionary of Early Christian
Literature (22), Hennecke-Schneemelcher's New Testament Apocrypha (23),
and Harnack's Mission and Expansion of Christianity (25).

3.   Harnack's Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius,
Musurillo's Acts of the Christian Martyrs, Lietzmann's Geschichte der
alten Kirche (which has been translated into English), the Dictionnaire
d'arche/ologie chre/tienne et de liturgie (DACL), Elsner's Imperial
Rome and Christian Triumph, and Bradshaw's Search for the Origins of
Christian Worship, as well as VanderKam's Introduction to Early Judaism
and Nickelsburg's Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah.

4.   Compare the discussion of recent arguments against the
authenticity of the Ignatian epistles (172-173) with the brief mention
of the authenticity of the "middle recension" (171-172), where the more
recent corroborating evidence of the Armenian and Arabic versions is
passed over in silence; see too the discussion on the occasion of the
Epistle of Barnabas (374-375) and the hypothesis that the Martyrdom of
Polycarp is a mid-third-century forgery (301).

5.   One misses, e.g., the significant publications on the Arabic
version of Ignatius by Basile, the Georgian text of Hermas Vision 5 by
Outtier, and even Lefort's Les Pe\res apostoliques en copte and the
edition of the Latin version of Barnabas by Heer.

6.   J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers: Part II. S. Ignatius. S.
Polycarp, 2d edn (London 1889).

7.   Not listed are Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothe\que
royale, MSS 1034 and 905, olim Bibliothe\que royale des ducs de
Bourgogne MSS 703 and 20132 (copies of b); Charleville-Me/zie\res,
Bibliothe\que municipale, MS 173; and Arras, Bibliothe\que municipale,
MS 281, olim 51.

8.   These are found in Cambridge University Library add. 2023, consist
of extracts from 19:1-2, 8, and 20:1 (though not 1:1, as one finds in
the Loeb edition), and may or may not reflect a complete Syriac
translation of the work.

9.   Also, the commentary by G. Visona\, Didache\: Insegnamento degli
Apostoli (Milan 2000), including an introduction, text, translation,
and notes, has unfortunately been overlooked in the bibliography.

10.   Holmes also writes that "fragments" of a Middle Persian
translation of Hermas have been discovered (449); by way of
clarification: the single extant Middle Persian fragment (M 97,
discovered in Turfan, China, and now in Berlin) contains multiple
extracts from the long, ninth Similitude.

11.   The first fragment in the florilegium Paris gr. 1143 should be
"51.8-10"; the fragments in the Amherst Papyrus should be "2.2-3.1;
20.3, 21.3-4; 44.1, 3; 79.1-2, 4-5; 89.2-3, 5; 94.1, 3-4; 107.1-2,
3-4"; the contents of Berlin Papyrus 13272 should be "54.5-55.2, 4-6";
and POxy 1828 should contain "65.3, 5". In addition, the current
inventory numbers for Michigan Papyri 129 and 130 are, respectively,
917 and 44-H, and the former dates to the third century, not
(unfortunately) to the second.

12.   Koertner's fragment 22, corresponding to Norelli's fragment 23,
is, however, overlooked. Norelli offers a more complete table of this
sort, in which the systems of numeration in twelve editions are
compared (though even it lacks Holmes's fragments 2 and 5).

13.   See F. Siegert, "Unbeachtete Papiaszitate bei armenischen
Schriftstellern", in New Testament Studies 27 (1981) 605-614.

14.   In J. Kuerzinger, Papias von Hierapolis und die Evangelien des
Neuen Testaments (Regensburg 1983), 129.

15.   E.g., the series should be "Die griechischen christlichen
Schriftsteller" when written with the article (20, 453), "Apostolischen
Vater" is printed for "Apostolischen Vaeter" (21), the publisher is
"Crossroad" not "Crossroads" (22), R. Lane Fox's Pagans and Christians
is alphabetized as though his surname were "Fox" and not "Lane Fox"
(28) (though it is indexed correctly [787]), "Milano" should be
anglicized to "Milan" like other places of publication (177, 340, 691),
"Ephemerides Theologicae Lovaniensis" is written for "Ephemerides
Theologicae Lovanienses" (303), "Martyrium Polycarpi" appears as
"Marytrium Polycarpi" (304), the publisher is "Ophrys" not "Orphys"
(342), "mediate" is written for "meditate" in Barnabas 21:7
(translating <greek>meleta/w</greek>, 441), "Cahiers Revue Biblique"
should be "Cahiers de la Revue Biblique" (452), quotation marks fail to
resume between "replied" and "grief" in Hermas 42:3 (539),
"Wiederaufnahme" is spelled "Wideraufnahme" in the subtitle of
Braendle's dissertation (692), and "traduizione" is printed for
"traduzione" in the subtitle to the recent edition of Papias (729).

16.   S. J. D. Cohen's From the Maccabees to the Mishnah is now in its
second edition (2006) (23), E. M. Smallwood's Jews under Roman Rule was
published in Leiden in 1981 (it was merely reprinted as a paperback in
2001) (24), a revised edition of H. Chadwick's The Early Church
appeared in 1993 (24), E. Ferguson's Backgrounds of Early Christianity
is now in its third edition (2003) (27), the 1998 corrected edition of
Camelot's Ignace d'Antioche should be noted (278, 303), and the place
of publication for Fortress Press (in 2005) should be "Minneapolis"
(341).

17.   Given names in the author index are abbreviated except under a
few entries (Draper, Gregory, McKechnie, and McKinion, 786, 788) and
two sets of different entries ("S. Giet"/"St. Giet" and "Paulsen"/"H.
Paulsen") each refer to one person (786, 788). And, e.g., Vardan is
mentioned on p. 765, not 396 (784); W. Schneemelcher is also cited on
pp. 20, 723, and 731 (789); and Anastasius of Sinai's Hexaemeron 1 is
cited on p. 749, not 479 (798).

18.   J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers: Part I. S. Clement of
Rome, 2d edn (London 1890), Part II. S. Ignatius. S. Polycarp, 2d edn
(London 1889).