The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

This episode contains The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, the first in a series of imaginative and creative works. It is impossible to identify the author or date of this writing with any certainty, but it represents something that may have been in the popular imagination of Christians in the Early Church period. This genre is similar to the modern-day video series “The Chosen,” as they both represent imaginative retellings of real stories with the theological worldview of the author underpinning the narrative. 

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a creative retelling of the dying words of each of the sons of Israel. Historians are unclear as to when this was written, but it appears to have reached a final form some time during the Early Church period. The work uses the characters of the 12 sons of Jacob as a means to teach virtue and foretell the coming Christ. Both of these aims are consistent with many of the other writings produced by Christians in this period, which seek to demonstrate how Christ was predicted by the Hebrew scriptures and call believers to an upright, pure, and virtuous life as a response to faith in Christ.

If you would like to read more of the writings of the Early Christian Fathers, please visit ccel.org to view the full collection.