The Shepherd of Hermas - Introduction

THE SHEPHERD OF HERMAS

Ποιμήν του Ερμά

A compilation of writings attributed to a Roman by the name of Hermas was recognized some 50 years after Clement of Rome.  Some think that it is a compilation of works done between 90 and 150 A.D.  Some refer to this work as a religious allegory.  Origen of Alexandria[1] believed that this Hermas was the same mentioned by Paul in Romans 16:14 (ESV) , "¹⁴ Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them."  Phillip Schaff adopts the view that Hermas was a contemporary of Clement.^[2]

The set " consists of five visions  . . . this is followed by twelve mandates or commandments, and ten similitudes, or parables."[3]

"The revelator in Visions 1–4 was a woman representing the church, and in Vision 5 through Similitude 10 was the angel of repentance in the guise of a shepherd—hence the name of the work. The Visions focus especially on the last days and mention the imminence of the great tribulation several times. The Mandates and Similitudes provide teaching on Christian behavior and principles respectively and served as a textbook for catechetical instruction in the second and third centuries." ^[4]

Apparently Hermas was read in the early centuries as Pilgrim's Progress is read and revered today. At the time of Eusebius and Jerome it was read in public worship.  Most view the writings as apocryphal and valuable to read. The Greek original even disappeared for centuries, until it turned up unexpectedly in the middle of the nineteenth century.^[5]

Who was the author of this book? Origen saw in him the Hermas whom St. Paul greets at the end of his Epistle to the Romans (xvi, 14). Others have made him a contemporary of St. Clement of Rome, according to vision ii, 4, 3. By far the most probable opinion is that based upon the authority of the Canon of Muratori, and that of the Liberian Catalogue, which makes Hermas a brother of Pope Pius I (c. 140-155). "As to the Shepherd" says the Muratorian Fragment, "it has been written quite recently, in our own time, in the city of Rome, by Hermas, while Pius, his brother, occupied, as bishop, the see of the Church of the city of Rome." (A Handbook of Patrology)

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shepherd_of_Hermas

^[2] Schaff, P., & Schaff, D. S. (1910). History of the Christian church. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shepherd_of_Hermas

^[4] Vos, H. F., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1996). Exploring church history. Nelson's Christian Cornerstone Series. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

^[5] Schaff, P., & Schaff, D. S. (1910). History of the Christian church. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.