Missing evidence and clues to evidence, a dialectic process: the Apostolic tradition

The Apostolic Tradition is one of the most puzzling cases of textual transmission in early Christian literature. The debates and hypotheses put forward to understand this work are a good illustration of the intricate and enigmatic relationship between preserved material evidence, missing textual phases, and constructions and hypotheses based on an attempt to reconcile contradictory evidence. This case study also illustrates the difficulty of integrating newly emerging evidence into a traditional discourse that clings to assumed paradigms and is incapable of rethinking established conclusions.