The Shepherd of Hermas
The Shepherd of Hermas was written around the turn of the first century, perhaps as late as the middle of the second century. It is attributed to a former slave of the name Hermas and was a widely read text among Christians through at least the end of the third century. In his epistle to the Romans, Paul sent greetings to a Hermas, identified as a Christian in Rome, however, it is possible the reference was to another of that name (Romans 16:14). The Shepherd of Hermas first appeared in Rome and thus was likely written there. Others have suggested the work was written by a brother of Pope Pius I, who reigned as Pope beginning in the mid-second century.
In the first two centuries following the death of Jesus debate among the early Christians on the subject of his divinity was common. Some believed that Jesus was the Incarnate Word, divine before taking human form, while others believed that he was a mortal man adopted by God, a philosophy referred to as adoptionism. In one of the book’s parables, Hermas appears to support the theory of adoptionism which was ultimately rejected by Church authorities. The book contains references to the Gospel of John, and some scholars believe its writer to have been familiar with all four of the Gospels, as well as several of Paul’s epistles.
The book contains five visions which were experienced by its author and presents twelve commandments and ten parables, which demonstrate the commandments. In the fifth vision the “Angel of Repentance” appears to the author in the form of a shepherd, from which the text received its name. The book stresses the Christian values of repentance, penance, and forgiveness, and the necessity of humility. While it stresses the necessity of repentance it also clearly states that forgiveness of sin is not possible without penance.
The book was cited as an authoritative text for many years, including by some early popes prior to it being determined to be, in the words of Tertullian, “…judged by every Council of the Churches…among the apocryphal and false.” Despite the book’s exclusion from the Biblical Canon it remained popular among early Christians and was still being copied in Western Europe as late as the Middle Ages, though its use in the Eastern Church seems to have fallen out of favor.
As with many other early Christian texts, it was formally excluded because of the book’s evident conflicts with the results of the Council of Nicaea, which settled the issue of the divinity of Jesus and produced the early canon law, as well as the beginning of the Nicene Creed, then the definitive statement of Christian faith. The issue of its true authorship was also a disputed aspect of the book. Prior to its falling in disfavor it had been listed in the New Testament between the Acts of the Apostles and the Acts of Paul, another book no longer contained in the Christian Bible.