This paper reconsiders the origins of the Christian notion of apostolic succession by examining it alongside rabbinic models of authority and continuity emerging from late Second Temple Judaism. Through a critical re-reading of I Clement, the study questions the assumption that apostolic succession represents a straightforward historical transmission of ministerial power from Jesus through the Twelve. Instead, it argues that the appeal to succession functions as a genealogical and theological construct, closely analogous to the rabbinic “chain of tradition” articulated in Pirke Aboth. Both texts deploy structured successions—of apostles or sages—to bridge perceived discontinuities between present communities and foundational moments of revelation. Situating I Clement within a Jewish intellectual milieu where boundaries between Jews and Christ-followers remained fluid, the paper demonstrates that apostolic succession emerged as a culturally intelligible strategy for legitimising authority amid disruption. Apostolic succession is thus best understood not as a historical datum, but as a shared Jewish-Christian mode of theological reasoning about continuity, authority, and identity.
Thomas O'Loughlin (Mon,) studied this question.