Other ancient texts · Early Christian writings
Shepherd of Hermas
The Shepherd of Hermas is a long early Christian book from Rome. In it a former slave named Hermas tells of visions, commandments and parables given to him by an old woman who stands for the Church and by an angel dressed as a shepherd. It was one of the most widely read Christian books of the second and third centuries, and people still read it for its call to repentance, its practical moral teaching, and the window it opens on how the church in Rome thought and lived soon after the apostles.
- about AD 100–150
- Greek
- Protestant Catholic Orthodox Ethiopian
Included in Codex Sinaiticus; widely read as scripture for a time.
Should it be in the Bible?
The case for
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Leading second- and third-century Christian teachers treated it as scripture or as inspired.
The evidence
Irenaeus quotes its first commandment and calls it 'scripture' (Against Heresies 4.20.2). Clement of Alexandria quotes it often as revelation. Origen called it 'very useful and, I think, divinely inspired' (Commentary on Romans 10.31).
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It was copied and read alongside the biblical books in some of the oldest Christian Bibles and reading lists.
The evidence
Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) includes it after Revelation and the Epistle of Barnabas. The canon list in Codex Claromontanus also names it. More early papyrus copies of it survive from Egypt than of most New Testament books.
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Even the church leaders who left it out of the canon still recommended it as sound and useful reading.
The evidence
The Muratorian fragment says it 'ought to be read,' just not publicly in church. Athanasius in 367 left it out of the canon but listed it among books 'appointed by the Fathers to be read' by new converts. Its teaching on repentance, honesty and care for the poor fits closely with the moral teaching of the Gospels and James.
The case against
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The earliest surviving canon list rejects it as scripture because it was written too late.
The evidence
The Muratorian fragment says Hermas wrote it 'very recently, in our times' in Rome. For that reason it says the book cannot be read publicly in church among the Prophets or the Apostles. The book itself never claims to come from an apostle.
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The wider church disputed it and then dropped it, and no church today counts it as scripture.
The evidence
Eusebius lists it among the 'spurious' or disputed books (Church History 3.25.4). Tertullian, writing as a Montanist, called it the 'Shepherd of adulterers' and said church councils rejected it (On Modesty 10). Athanasius, Jerome and later councils left it out of the canon.
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Some of its theology sits awkwardly with the rest of the New Testament.
The evidence
It never uses the names 'Jesus' or 'Christ,' and in places it seems to identify the Son of God with the Holy Spirit or to describe him in adoptionist terms (Similitudes 5.6; 9.1). It also teaches that sins committed after baptism can be repented of only once, which later readers judged too narrow.
Both sides are written as strongly as the honest evidence allows, so you can decide for yourself. Researched by claude-opus-5-5.
When, where and by whom
Tradition says it was written in Rome by Hermas. The Muratorian fragment calls him the brother of Pius, bishop of Rome around 140–155, while Origen thought he was the Hermas greeted in Romans 16:14. Most scholars think the book was written in stages, perhaps by one author over time or with later additions, somewhere between about AD 90 and 150. The mention of a "Clement" who sends letters to other cities (Visions 2.4.3) suggests the earliest parts date to around 100.
Jesus, the New Testament and this book
- Its central warning against being 'double-minded' (dipsychia) closely matches James 1:8 and 4:8, and the two books share a strong interest in the poor and in faith shown in deeds. (likely link)
- Its picture of the Church as a tower built from living stones echoes 1 Peter 2:5 and Ephesians 2:20–22. (likely link)
- Origen identified its author with the Hermas greeted by Paul in Romans 16:14. Most scholars reject this because of the book's later date. (possible link)
- Its parables of the vineyard and the faithful slave (Similitudes 5) echo Jesus' vineyard and servant parables in the Gospels, though it never quotes them directly. (possible link)
- Its first commandment, to believe that God is one and created all things, echoes Hebrews 11:3, 11:6 and James 2:19. (possible link)
- As a revelation given through visions and an angelic guide, it belongs to the same apocalyptic tradition as the Book of Revelation. (possible link)
How it came down to us
It was written in Greek. Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) has the beginning, up to about Mandate 4. Most of the rest of the Greek text comes from Codex Athous (14th–15th century) and many papyri from Egypt, including Michigan Papyrus 129 (3rd century) and Bodmer Papyrus 38 (Visions). The full text, including the ending that is missing in Greek, survives in two ancient Latin translations (the Vulgata and the Palatina) and in a Ge'ez (Ethiopic) translation. Coptic and Middle Persian fragments also survive. It was copied mostly in Egypt and in the Latin West, and in Ethiopia, until it dropped out of church use in the early Middle Ages.
- Muratorian fragment (canon list, lines on Hermas and Pius)
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.20.2
- Clement of Alexandria, Stromata (various quotations)
- Origen, Commentary on Romans 10.31
- Tertullian, On Modesty (De Pudicitia) 10 and 20
- Eusebius, Church History 3.3.6 and 3.25.4
- Athanasius, 39th Festal Letter (AD 367)
- Codex Sinaiticus and the canon list in Codex Claromontanus
- Greek papyri including Michigan Papyrus 129 and Bodmer Papyrus 38; Codex Athous
- Latin Vulgata and Palatina versions; Ethiopic (Ge'ez) version
- Modern critical scholarship, e.g. Carolyn Osiek's Hermeneia commentary (1999) and Michael Holmes' Apostolic Fathers edition