From Monachos.net
From the J.B. Lightfoot translation.
Sectional Index:
The following divisions of chapter groupings are arbitrary, designed to make the pages of roughly equal length and not to divide the content thematically:
Brief Introduction:
- The Shepherd of Hermas is an anonymous Christian text dating from the beginning of the second century AD (the most likely date being between c.AD 139-155; proposals for a first-century date of composition are largely dismissed today). In content it is a series of visions received by Hermas, a devoutly Christian servant/slave living in Rome, from an angel of repentance titled the 'Shepherd' (or occasionally 'Pastor'). The content is divided into Visions (of heaven, Hermas' life, the angel's teachings, etc); Mandates (or 'Commands' on life and fundamental issues); and Similitudes (examples).
- The Shepherd of Hermas made a significant impact on the early Church, and thus provides the modern reader with a unique window into the concerns, issues, questions, and writings styles current in the earliest generations of Christian history. Among the Fathers of that era, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Tertullian treated it as divinely inspired, on par with what was later to become New Testament Scripture (though Tertullian later departed from this view); and the Shepherd was considered important enough to be included in the Codex Sinaiticus manuscript. It is extant today in Greek fragments from this manuscript and others, as well as complete Latin and Ethiopic versions.
- The message of the work is that the pious Christian must, in his or her pursuit of virtue, overcome vices and obstacles in order to do so. The teachings are primarily concerned with penance, morality, the condition of the Church, and personal virtue; as such, its lessons on such basic principles are applicable to the Christian reader today.
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