Teaching_of_Jacob
Teaching of Jacob
7th-century Christian Greek-language tract
The Teaching of Jacob (Ancient Greek: Διδασκαλία Ἰακώβου, Didaskalia Iakobou; Latin Doctrina Jacobi; Ethiopic Sargis d'Aberga) has a controversial dating from the early 7th century to the late 8th century.[1] It is a Greek Christian polemical tract supposedly set in Carthage in 634 but written in Palestine sometime between 634 and 640.[2][3] It supposedly records a weeks-long discussion ending on July 13, 634, among Jews who have been forcibly baptized by order of the emperor. One of them, Jacob, has come to believe sincerely in Christianity; he instructs the rest about why they should also sincerely embrace their new faith. Halfway through, a Jewish merchant named Justus arrives and challenges Jacob to a debate. In the end, all of the participants are convinced to embrace Christianity, and Jacob and Justus return east.[4] In addition to several partial Greek manuscripts, the text survives in Latin, Arabic, Ethiopic and Slavonic translations.