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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HEG-HIG |
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HERMAS, SHEPHERD OF , one of the works representing the Apostolic Fathers (q.v.), a hortatory writing which " holds the mirror up " to the Church in Rome during the 3rd Christian generation. This is the period indicated by the evidence of the Muratorian Canon, which assigns it to the brother of Pius, Roman bishop c. 139154. Probably it was. not the fruif of a single effort of its author. Rather its contents came to him piecemeal and at various stages in his ministry as a Christian "prophet," extending over a period of years; and, like certain Old Testament prophets, he shows us how by his own experiences he became the medium of a divine message to his church and to God's " elect " people at large.In its present form it falls under three heads: Visions, Mandates, Similitudes. But these divisions are misleading. The personal and preliminary revelation embodied in Vision i. brings the prophet a new sense of sin as essentially a matter of the heart, literature; and in 1842 he was transferred to Gottingen to the chair of philology and archaeology, vacant by the death of Otfried Muller. He died at Gottingen on the 31st of December 1855. His knowledge of all branches of classical learning was profound, but he was chiefly distinguished for his works on Greek antiquities and ancient philosophy. Among these may be mentioned the Lehrbuch der griechischen Antiquitaten (new ed., r880 dealing with political, religious and domestic antiquities; the Geschichte and System der Platonischen Philosophic (1839), unfinished; an edition of the Platonic Dialogues (6 vols., '851 1853); and Culturgeschichte der Griechen and Romer (1857 1858), published after his death by C. G. Schmidt. He also and an awakened conscience as before the " glory
message , to be delivered both to his wife and children and to " all the saints who have sinned unto this day " (2. 4). It contains the assurances of forgiveness even for the gravest sins after baptism (save blasphemy of the Name and betrayal of the brethren, Sim. ix. I0)," if they repent with their whole heart and remove doubts from their minds. For the Master hath sworn by His glory
Here, in the gist of the " booklet " received from the hand of a female figure representing the Church, we have in germ the message of The Shepherd. But before Hermas announces it to the Roman Church, and through " Clement "1 to the churches abroad, there are added two Visions (iii. iv.) tending to heighten its impressiveness. He is shown the " holy church " under the similitude of a tower in building, and the great and final tribulation (already alluded to as near at hand) under that of a devouring beast, which yet is innocuous to undoubting faith. Hermas begins to deliver the message of Vis. i.-iv., as bidden. But as he does so, it is added to, in the way of detail and illustration
series of revelations through an angel
Angel
special
' More than one interpretation, typical or otherwise, of this " Clement " is possible; but none justifies us in assigning even to this Vision a date consistent with that usually given to the traditional bishop of this name (see CLEMENT I.). Yet we may have to correct the dubious chronology of the first Roman bishops by this datum, and prolong his life to about A.D. 110. This is Harnack's date for the nucleus of Vis. ii., though he places our Vis. i.-iii. later in Trojan's reign, and thinks Vis. iv. later still. 2 That a prior vision in which Hermas was " delivered " to the Shepherd's charge, has dropped out, seems implied by Vis. v. 3 f., Sim. x. 1. I. ' Harnack places " The Shepherd " proper mostly under Hadrian (117-138), and the completed work c. 140-145.teaching, " so that they who have repented or are about to repent may have the same mind with thee," and so receive a good report before God (Sim. is. 2 2-4). Only they must " make haste to do aright," lest while they delay the tower be finished (4. 4), and the new aeon dawn (after the final tribulation: cf. Vis. iv. 3. 5). The relation here indicated between the Shepherd's instruction and the initial message of one definitive repentance, open to those believers who have already "broken" their "seal" of baptism by deadly sins, as announced in Visions i.-iv. is made yet plainer by Sim. vi. 1. 3 f. " These mandates are profitable to such as are about to repent; for except they walk in them their repentance is in vain." Hermas sees that mere repentance is not enough to meet the backsliding condition in which so many Christians then were, owing to the recoil of inveterate habits of worldliness' entrenched in society around and within. It is, after all, too negative a thing to stand by itself or to satisfy God." " Cease, Hermas," says the Church, " to pray all about thy sins. Ask for righteousness also " (Vis. iii. I. 6). The positive Christian ideal which " the saints " should attain, " the Lord enabling," it is the business of the Shepherd to set forth. Here lies a great merit of Hermas's book, his insight into experimental religion and the secret of failure in Christians about him, to many of whom Christianity had come by birth rather than personal conviction. They shared the worldly spirit in its various forms, particularly the desire for wealth and the luxuries it affords, and for a place in " good society "which meant a pagan
secret of all: " First of all believe that there is one God. . . . Believe therefore in Him, and fear Him, and fearing Him have self-mastery. For the fear of the Lord dwelleth in the good desire," and to " put on " this master-desire is to possess power to curb " evil desire " in all its shapes (Mand. xii. 1-2). Elsewhere " good desire " is analysed into the "spirits " of the several virtues, which yet are organically related, Faith being mother, and Self-mastery her daughter, and so on (Visa iii. 8. 3 seq.; cf. Sim. ix. 15). These are the specific forms of the Holy Spirit power, without whose indwelling the mandates cannot be kept (Sim. x. 3; cf. ix. 13. 2, 24. 2).Thus the " moralism " sometimes traced in Hermas is apparent rather than real, for he has a deep sense of the enabling grace of God. His defect lies rather in not presenting the historic Christ as the Christian's chief
The absence of the historic names, " Jesus " and " Christ," may be due to the form of the book as purporting to quote angelic communications. This would also explain the absence of explicit scriptural citations generally, though knowledge both of the Old Testament and of several New Testament booksincluding the congenially symbolic Gospel of Johnis clear (cf. The New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers, Oxford, 1905, Io5 seq.). The one exception is a prophetic writing, the apocryphal Book of Eldad and Modad, A careful study of practical Christian ethics at Rome as implies in the Shepherd, will be found in E. von Dobschiitz, Christian Life in the Primitive Church (1904). which is cited apparently as being similar in the scope of its message. Among its non-scriptural sources may be named the allegoric picture of human life known as Tabula Cebetis (cf. C. Taylor, as below), the Didache, and perhaps certain " Sibylline Oracles. Hermas regarded Christians as " justified by the most reverend Angel " (i.e. the pre-existent Holy Spirit or Son, who dwelt in Christ's ` flesh "), in baptism, the " seal " which even Old Testament saints had to receive in Hades (Sim. ix. 16. 3-7) and so attain to " life." Yet the degree of " honour " (e.g. that of martyrs, Vis. iii. 2; Sim. ix. 28), the exact place in the kingdom or consummated church (the Tower), is given as reward for zeal in doing God's will beyond the minimum requisite in all. Here comes in Hermas's doctrine of works of supererogation, in fulfilment of counsels of perfection, on lines already seen in Did. vi. 2, cf. i. 4, and reappearing in the two types of Christian recognized by Clement and Origen and in later Catholicism. Again his doctrine of fasting is a spiritualizing of a current opus operatum conception on Jewish lines as though " keeping a watch " (statio) in that way atqned for sins (Sim. v.). The Shepherd enjoins instead, first, as " a perfect fast," a fast " from every evil word and every evil desire, . from all the vanities of this world-age " (3. 6; cf. Barn. iii. and the Oxyrhynchus Saying, " except ye fast from the world ") ; and next, as a counsel of perfection, a fast to yield somewhat for the relief of the widow and orphan, that this extra " service " may be to God for a " sacrifice." Generally speaking, Hermas's piety, especially in its language, adheres closely to Old Testament forms. But it is doubtful (pace Spitta and Volter, who assume a Jewish or a proselyte basis) whether this means more than that the Old Testament was still the Scriptures of the Church. In this respect, too, Hermas faithfully reflects the Roman Church of the early 2nd century (cf. the language of 1 Clem., esp. the liturgical parts, and even the Roman Mass). Indeed the prime value of the Shepherd is the light it casts on Christianity at Rome in the otherwise obscure period c. 110-140, when it had as yet hardly felt the influences converging on it from other centres of tradition and thought. Thus Hermas's comparatively mild censures on Gnostic teachers in Sim. ix. suggest that the greater systems, like the Valentinian and Marcionite, had not yet made an impression there, as Harnack argues that they must have done by c. 145. This date, then, is a likely lower limit for Hermas's revision of his earlier prophetic memoranda, and their publication in a single homogeneous work, such as the Shepherd appears to be. Its wider historic significanceit was felt by its author to be adapted to the needs of the Church at large, and was generally welcomed as suchis great but hard to determine in detail). What is certain is its influence on the development of the Church's policy as to discipline in grave cases, like apostasy and adulterya burning question for some generations from the end of the 2nd century, particularly in Rome and North Africa. Indirectly, too, Hermas tended to keep alive the idea of the Christian prophet, even after Montanism had helped to discredit it. End of Article: HERMAS, SHEPHERD OF If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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