The Shepherd of Hermas

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The Shepherd of Hermas (

Church fathers such as Irenaeus.[1] The Shepherd was popular amongst Christians in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries.[2] It is found in the Codex Sinaiticus.[3][4]

Language and translation

The book was originally written in Rome in Koine Greek.[5] A first Latin translation, the Vulgata (common language),[6] was made very shortly afterwards. A second Latin translation, the Palatina, was made at the beginning of the fifth century. Of the Greek version, the last fifth or so is missing. The Vulgata is therefore the earliest translation and the most complete witness.

The Shepherd was also translated at least twice into the

Turfan in what is now China.[8]

Contents

The Shepherd of Hermas, or the Good Shepherd, 3rd century, Catacombs of Rome.

The book consists of five visions granted to Hermas, a former slave. This is followed by twelve mandates or commandments, and ten similitudes (aka parables). It commences abruptly in the first person: "He who brought me up sold me to a certain Rhoda, who was at Rome. After many years I met her again, and began to love her as a sister." As Hermas is on the road to Cumae, he has a vision of Rhoda. She tells him that she is now his accuser in heaven, on account of unchaste and impure thoughts the (now) married narrator once had regarding her. He is to repent and pray for forgiveness, for himself and all his house. He is consoled by a vision of the Church in the form of an aged woman, weak and helpless from the sins of her unfaithful children, who tells him to bear fruits of repentance and to correct the sins of his children. Subsequently, after his repentance he sees her made younger, yet still wrinkled and with white hair; then again, later she appears as quite young but still with white hair; and lastly, she shows herself as a glorious Bride.

This

bishop of Rome).[9]

After the mandates come ten similitudes (parabolai) in the form of visions, which are explained by the angel. The longest of these (Similitude 9) is an elaboration of the parable of the building of a tower, which had formed the matter of the third vision. The tower is the Church, and the stones of which it is built are the faithful. In the third vision it looks as though only the holy are a part of the true Church; in Similitude 9 it is clearly pointed out that all the baptized are included, though they may be cast out for grave sins, and can be readmitted only after repentance.[3]

Authorship and date

Origen of Alexandria's opinion that he was the author of this religious allegory.[10]

Three ancient witnesses claim to identify the author of this writing. These authorities may be citing the same source, perhaps

Marcion
in the 3rd or 4th century AD.

The

Pius I
, bishop of Rome:

But Hermas wrote The Shepherd very recently, in our times, in the city of Rome, while bishop Pius, his brother, was occupying the chair of the church of the city of Rome. And therefore it ought indeed to be read; but it cannot be read publicly to the people in church either among the Prophets, whose number is complete, or among the Apostles, for it is after their time.

Theology

In parable 5, the author mentions a

Jesus Christ was, at least initially, only a mortal man) was one of two competing doctrines about Jesus's true nature, the other being that he pre-existed as the Word (Logos) or only-begotten Son of God and is to be identified as such from his conception; Christ's identity as the Logos (Jn 1:1), in which the Logos is further understood to be uncreated and coessentially divine with God (that is, the Father), was affirmed in 325 at the First Council of Nicaea.[15] Bogdan G. Bucur says the document was widely accepted among orthodox Christians, yet was not criticized for apparently exhibiting an adoptionistic Christology. He says that the passage in question should be understood as Jesus making his dwelling within those who submit to his spirit, so that the adoption that takes place is not of Jesus, but of his followers.[16]

Some believe that Hermas has a binitarian understanding of God, as it calls the Holy Spirit the Son of God. Not all, however agree that Hermas has binitarianism.[17][18] Kelly calls the Christology of Hermas "an amalgam of binitarianism and adoptionism.[19]

Hermas has a synergist understanding of soteriology, where both works and faith are needed to be saved.[20] For Hermas baptism is necessary to be saved and warns those who undergo baptism by the danger of postbaptismal sins.[21] Shepherd of Hermas possibly supports delaying baptism for practical reasons which is because of the fear of post-baptismal sins.[22] According to Hermas, those who fall into sin after baptism, have only one chance of penance.[23]

The book has a high emphasis on morals and the work is an indication of

Jewish Christianity — still keeping the Law of Moses.[24]

Hermas has some similarities to Montanism, such as a support of a belief in prophetic gifts and disciplinarian rigorism, however a direct connection does not exist.[25]

The principles which Novatian formulated have their origin in the Shepherd of Hermas.[26]

Some have argued that Hermas is the first example of pre-tribulational rapture. Though Hermas does not mention a rapture, he writes of believers that "have escaped from great tribulation on account of [their] faith" and that others could also escape "the great tribulation that is coming".[27]

Place in Christian literature

Tertullian implies that

books of the Bible), for he replies: "I would admit your argument, if the writing of The Shepherd had deserved to be included in the Divine Instrument, and if it were not judged by every council of the Churches, even of your own Churches, among the apocryphal."[28] And again, he says that the Epistle of Barnabas, which is Tertullian's name for the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews, is "more received among the Churches than the apocryphal epistle of the Shepherd".[29][3]

Editions

The Greek text is edited by

Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, edited by Harmon (London, 1893); the Codex Sinaiticus of Hermas was edited by Lake (Oxford, 1911). The English translation by William Wake (Archbishop of Canterbury 1716–1737) is given in W. Hone and J. Jones's Apocryphal New Testament (London, 1820). An English translation is also in volume ii of the American edition of Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Roberts and Donaldson (Buffalo, New York, 1886). Other English translations are by Kirsopp Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (Harvard Univ. Press, Loeb Classical Library, 1913), and Edgar J. Goodspeed
, The Apostolic Fathers (NY, Harper & Bros. 1950). In general, consult:

See also

References

  1. ^ Davidson & Leaney, Biblical Criticism: p. 230.
  2. ^ "The Pastor of Hermas was one of the most popular books, if not the most popular book, in the Christian Church during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries. It occupied a position analogous in some respects to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress in modern times." (F. Crombie, translator of Schaff, op. cit.).
  3. ^ a b c d Chapman, John. (1910). "Hermas." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 27 September 2017
  4. .
  5. ^ Christian Tornau. (2014). Paolo Cecconi (ed.), The Shepherd of Hermas in Latin: Critical Edition of the Oldest Translation Vulgata. Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter.
  6. ^ Jonathan E. Soyars, The Shepherd of Hermas and the Pauline Legacy (Brill, 2019), pp. 9–10.
  7. Encyclopaedia Iranica
    , retrieved 14 March 2020. First printed in Vol. XII, Fasc. 3, pp. 232–234. Sundermann provides an English translation of the Persian text.
  8. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Hermas". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  9. ^ Philip Schaff wrote hopefully, "It would not be a very bold conjecture, that Hermas and his brother were elderly grandchildren of the original Hermas, the friend of St. Paul. The Shepherd, then, might be based upon personal recollections, and upon the traditions of a family which the spirit of prophecy had reproved, and who were monuments of its power." (Schaff, Fathers of the Second Century: Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, and Clement of Alexandria, introduction to "the Pastor of Hermas").
  10. ^ A suggestion made by Bunsen, Hippolyrus and His Age, vol. I, p. 315.
  11. ^ G. M. Hahneman. (2002). The Mutatorian Fragment and the Origins of the New Testament Canon in "The Canon Debate" (ed. L. M. McDonald and J. A. Sanders), pp. 405–415. Massachusetts: Hendrickson
  12. ^ Kruger, Michael J. (2013). "Ten Basics Facts about the NT Canon that Every Christian Should Memorize: "At the End of the Second Century, the Muratorian Fragment lists 22 of our 27 NT books"". canon fodder. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  13. ^ "The Holy Pre-existent Spirit. Which created the whole creation, God made to dwell in flesh that He desired. This flesh, therefore, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt, was subject unto the Spirit, walking honorably in holiness and purity, without in any way defiling the Spirit. When then it had lived honorably in chastity, and had labored with the Spirit, and had cooperated with it in everything, behaving itself boldly and bravely, He chose it as a partner with the Holy Spirit; for the career of this flesh pleased [the Lord], seeing that, as possessing the Holy Spirit, it was not defiled upon the earth. He therefore took the son as adviser and the glorious angels also, that this flesh too, having served the Spirit unblamably, might have some place of sojourn, and might not seem to have lost the reward for its service; for all flesh, which is found undefiled and unspotted, wherein the Holy Spirit dwelt, shall receive a reward." Earlychristianwritings.com
  14. ^ "Jesus was either regarded as the man whom God hath chosen, in whom the Deity or the Spirit of God dwelt, and who, after being tested, was adopted by God and invested with dominion, (Adoptian Christology); or Jesus was regarded as a heavenly spiritual being (the highest after God) who took flesh, and again returned to heaven after the completion of his work on earth (pneumatic Christology)." Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, CCEL.org
  15. ^ Bogdan G. Bucur, The Son of God and the Angelomorphic Holy Spirit: A Rereading of the Shepherd's Christology
  16. .
  17. .
  18. . Kelly calls Hermas's christology an "amalgam of binitarianism and adoptionism"
  19. – via Cambridge University Press.
  20. .
  21. .
  22. .
  23. ^ "Shepherd of Hermas | Description, Summary, History, Importance, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  24. ^ Schaff, Philip (2019-12-18). The Complete History of the Christian Church (With Bible). e-artnow.
  25. ^ "Henry Wace: Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies. - Christian Classics Ethereal Library". www.ccel.org. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  26. ^ Ice, Thomas D. (2009). "Myths of the Origin of Pretribulationism". Myths of the Origin of Pretribulationism.
  27. ^ Tertullian, De pudicitia. p. 10
  28. ^ Tertullian, De pudicitia. p. 20
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainHerbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Hermas". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Further reading

  • Carolyn Osiek, "Wealth and Poverty in the Shepherd of Hermas," Studia Patristica, Vol. 17, Pt 2, 1982, pp. 725–730.
  • Carolyn Osiek, "The Genre and Function of the Shepherd of Hermas," Semeia, 36, 1986, pp. 113–121.
  • U. Neymeyr, Die christliche Lehrer im zweiten Jahrhundert. Ihre Lehrtätigkeit, ihr Selbsverständnis und ihre Geschichte (Leiden, 1989) (Vigiliae Christianae. Supplements, 4), pp. 9–15.
  • Carolyn Osiek, "The Second Century through the Eyes of Hermas: Continuity and Change," Biblical Theology Bulletin, 20, 1990, pp. 116–122.
  • D. P. O'Brien, "The Cumaean Sibyl as the Revelation-bearer in the Shepherd of Hermas," Journal of Early Christian Studies, 5, 1997, No. 4.
  • Carolyn Osiek, "The Shepherd of Hermas in Context," Acta Patristica et Byzantina, 8, 1997, pp. 115–134.
  • Carolyn Osiek, "The Oral World of Early Christianity in Rome: The Case of Hermas.," in Karl P. Donfried and Peter Richardson (eds), Judaism and Christianity in First-Century Rome (Grand Rapids, 1998), pp. 151–172.
  • Carolyn Osiek, Shepherd of Hermas: A Commentary (Minneapolis, 1999).
  • Jörg Rüpke, "Apokalyptische Salzberge: Zum sozialen Ort und zur literarischen Strategie des 'Hirten des Hermas'," Archiv für Religionsgeschichte, 1, 1999, pp. 148–160.
  • Jörg Rüpke, "Der Hirte des Hermas: Plausibilisierungs- und Legitimierungs strategien im Übergang von Antike und Christentum,"
    Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum
    , 7, 2003, pp. 362–384.
  • Marco Frenschkowski, "Vision als Imagination. Beobachtungen zum differenzierten Wirklichkeitsanspruch fruehchristlicher Visionsliteratur," in Nicola Hoemke, Manuel Baumbach (hrsg), Fremde Wirklichkeiten: Literarische Phantastik und antike Literatur (Heidelberg, 2006) (Studien zur griechischen und lateinischen Poesie, 6), pp. 339–366.
  • Joseph Verheyden, "The Shepherd of Hermas," in Paul Foster (ed), Writings of the Apostolic Fathers (London, 2007) (T & T Clark Biblical Studies).
  • Christian Tornau – Paolo Cecconi (Eds.), The Shepherd of Hermas in Latin. Critical Edition of the Oldest Translation Vulgata, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2014.

External links