The book is an investigation into the material reception of the Shepherd of Hermas as a case study of early Christian literary authority. An idiosyncratic early Christian apocalyptic work, the Shepherd was broadly copied and used often alongside biblical texts not only in Greek, but also in Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian and, as authoritative even in non-Christian context, in Middle-Persian. Drawing on patristic sources, late antique book-lists, and several manuscript traditions, the book challenges long-held assumptions about the outlook of its earliest reception and about its fourth-century rejection. Rather than a narrative of decline, the book proposes a model of continuity and illuminates how the Shepherd was continuously used in theological, catechetical, and liturgical contexts across centuries, and maintained a consistent status as a scriptural secondary book—neither fully canonical nor discarded—throughout late antiquity.
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-4973-1
Publication Status: Forthcoming
Publication Date: Sep 1,2025
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Page Count: 250
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-4973-1
$114.95 (USD)
Your price: $91.96 (USD)
While there has been renewed interest in the reception of early Christian writings outside what later became the New Testament, the reception of the Shepherd tends to be described largely through the narrow lens of the canonical lists of the fourth century by Eusebius of Caesarea, Athanasius of Alexandria, or, depending on its dating, the Muratorian Fragment.
Emphasising that such canonical lists project it as secondary without discarding it, and even assign the reading of the Shepherd and its use for instruction, this book offers a thorough overview of the reception of this second-century apocalyptic writing that samples a range of uses in theological, catechetical, liturgical, and ecclesiastical legal contexts alongside biblical writings.
Ultimately, The Shepherd of Hermas in Late Antiquity shows how the Shepherd enjoys a complex reception that certainly extends beyond the fourth century throughout all late antiquity and, in some remarkable cases, into the late medieval period as well. Moreover, the study of the Greek, Latin, and Coptic manuscripts of the Shepherd, with new insights from Armenian and Georgian, documents a variety of legitimisation practices that are relevant to the broader understanding of the literary reception of early Christian books.
