The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations (review)

Michael W. Holmes, editor. The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations .Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1999. Pp. xv + 609. $19.99, paper.

This is the New Revised Standard Version of the Apostolic Fathers. The com-parison with Bible translation is both deliberate and appropriate. The classic version of the Apostolic Fathers in English had long been the 1891 edition by J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer. In 1992, Holmes edited a revision of Lightfoot and Harmer. Like the Revised Standard Version of the English Bible, the 1992 revision (also reviewed in JECS) responded to changes in English usage in the intervening century. This made the Apostolic Fathers more inviting and accessible to the modern reader. Also like the RSV, Holmes' 1992 revision incorporated the results of modern scholarship--the study of Greco-Roman culture, new insights into Hellenistic Greek, and new manuscript discoveries (such as for Hermas and Papias). In both the 1992 and 1999 revisions, Holmes points out in the footnotes where his translation of the Greek differs from that of Lightfoot and Harmer, just as modern revisions of the English Bible use footnotes to point out variant manuscript readings.

The differences between this new edition and Holmes' 1992 revision are slight. Typographic and other errors in the 1992 edition are corrected. In a few cases, there is a new translation, which is always pointed out in the footnotes. The recent manuscript evidence (Bodmer Papyrus XXXVIII) for Hermas has been incorporated into the text, but this called for only minor changes in the text.

Holmes's work includes more critical apparatus than do most biblical translations. There is a general introduction to the volume, which sets a historical context for the Apostolic Fathers. There are up-to-date introductions to each of the documents, outlining key points such as date, authorship, purpose, and critical texts. Selected bibliographies follow the general introduction, and the introduction to each of the texts. These always include a listing of the manuscripts used in the translation, so that scholars can see how Holmes worked.

In addition to the Greek (occasionally Latin) texts and English translations on facing pages, the book includes indexes (subject and author, Scripture and extrabiblical Literature, other early Christian and Gnostic writings), and two maps. The parallel Greek texts and English translation make this revision helpful for students, as well as for the general reader who has no Greek at all.

I had not read the Apostolic Fathers for many years, partly because of other pressures, but also because of the English-usage issue. This new translation is a refreshing pathway back into the texts. We all have cause to be grateful to Holmes for this New Revised Standard Version of the Apostolic Fathers.

John O. Gooch, Nashville, Tennessee

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