Note.
The Pastor Hermae has long ceased to be read for devotion or entertainment. We add some modern opinions. Mosheim (who must have read it very superficially) pronounced the talk of the heavenly spirits in Hermas to be more stupid and insipid than that of the barbers of his day, and concluded that he was either a fool or an impostor. The great historian Niebuhr, as reported by Bunsen, used to say that he pitied the Athenian [why not the Roman?] Christians who were obliged to listen to the reader of such a book in the church. Bunsen himself pronounces it "a well-meant but silly romance."
On the other hand, some Irvingite scholars, Dr. Thiersch and Mr. Gaâb, have revived the old belief in a supernatural foundation for the visions, as having been really seen and recorded in the church of Rome during the apostolic age, but afterwards modified and mingled with errors by the compiler under Pius. Gaâb thinks that Hermas was gifted with the power of vision, and inspired in the same sense as Swedenborg.
Westcott ascribes "the highest value" to the Shepherd, "as showing in what way Christianity was endangered by the influence of Jewish principles as distinguished from Jewish forms." Hist. of the Canon of the N. T p. 173 (second ed.)
Donaldson (a liberal Scotch Presbyterian) thinks that the Shepherd "ought to derive a peculiar interest from its being the first work extant, the main effort of which is to direct the soul to God. The other religious books relate to internal workings in the church--this alone specially deals with the great change requisite to living to God .... Its creed is a very short and simple one. Its great object is to exhibit the morality implied in conversion, and it is well calculated to awaken a true sense of the spiritual foes that are ever ready to assail him." (Ap. Fath., p. 339). But he also remarks (p. 336) that "nothing would more completely show the immense difference between ancient Christian feeling and modern, than the respect in which ancient, and a large number of modern Christians hold this work."
George A. Jackson (an American Congregationalist) judges even more favorably (Ap. Fath., 1879, p. 15): Reading the 'Shepherd,' and remembering that it appeared in the midst of a society differing little from that satirized by Juvenal, we no longer wonder at the esteem in which it was held by the early Christians, but we almost join with them in calling it an inspired book."
Mr. Hoole, of Oxford, agrees with the judgment of Athanasius, and puts its literary character on the same footing as the pious but rude art of the Roman catacombs.
Dr. Salmon, of Dublin, compares Hermas with Savonarola, who sincerely believed: (a) that the church of his time was corrupt and worldly; (b) that a time of great tribulation was at hand, in which the dross should be purged away; (c) that there was still an intervening time for repentance; (d) that he himself was divinely commissioned to be a preacher of that repentance.
[1280] Pastor Hermae, Ho Poimen. Comp. Vis. I. 1, 2, 4; II. 2.
[1281] This division, however, is made by later editors.
[1282] So v. Gebh. and Hilgenf. ed. II., with Cod. Sin. But the MSS. vary considerably. The Vatican MS. reads: vendidit quandam puellam Romae. The words, eis Rhomen would indicate that the writer was not from Rome; but he often confounds eis and en.
[1283] In the Visions and Mandates the person of the Redeemer is mentioned only three times; in the Similitudes Hermas speaks repeatedly of the "Son of God." and seems to identify his pre-existent divine nature with the Holy Spirit. Sim. I X. 1 to pneuma to hagion... ho theos tou theou estin. But a passage in a parable must not be pressed and it is differently explained. Comp. Hilgenfeld, Ap. Väter, 166 sq., Harnack's notes on Sim. V. 5 and IX. 1; the different view of Zahn, 139 sqq. and 245 sqq., and especially Link's monograph quoted above (p. 680).
[1284] This is the natural interpretation of the carious passage Simil. IX. 16: These apostles and teachers who preached the name of the Son of God, after having fallen asleep in the power and faith of the Son of God, preached to those also who were asleep and gave to them the seal of preaching. They descended therefore into the water with them and again ascended (katebesan oun met' auton eis to hudor kai palin anebesan). But these descended alive and again ascended alive; but those who had fallen asleep before descended dead (nekroi) and ascended alive (xontes)."This imaginary post-mortem baptism is derived from the preaching of Christ in Hades, 1 Pet. 3:19; 4:6. Clement of Alex. quotes this passage with approbation, but supposed that Christ as well as the apostles baptized in Hades. Strom. II. 9. 44; VI. 6, 45, 46. Cotelier and Donaldson (p. 380) are wrong in interpreting Hermas as meaning merely a metaphorical and mystical baptism, or the divine blessings symbolized by it.
[1285] The last is expressly quoted in the Second Vision.
[1286] As is done by, the Tübingen School, but without unanimity. Schwegler, and, with qualifications, Hilgenfeld and Lipsius represent Hermas as an Ebionite, while Ritschl on the contrary assigns him to the school of Paul. There is no trace whatever in Hermas of the essential features of Ebionism circumcision, the sabbath, the antipathy to Paul;-nor on the other hand of an understanding of the specific doctrines of Paul. Uhlhorn his the point )l.c. p. 13): "Hermas ist ein Glied der damaligen orthodoxen Kirche, und seine Auffassung der christlichen Lehre die eines einfachen Gemeindegliedes one be stimmte Ausprägung irgend eines Parteicharakters."
[1287] See the list of Scripture allusions of Hermas in Gebhardt's ed. p. 272-274; in Funk's ed. I. 575-578; Hilgenfeld, Die Ap. Väter, 182-184; Zahn, Hermae Pastore N. T. illustratus, Gött. 1867; and D. Hirt d. H. 391-482. Zahn discovers considerable familiarity of H. with the N. T. writings. On the relation of Hermas to John see Holtzmann, in Hilgenfeld's "Zeitschrift für wissensch. Theol." 1875, p. 40 sqq.
[1288] So Origen (his opinion, puto enim, etc.), Eusebius, Jerome, probably also Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria; among recent writers Cotelier, Cave, Lardner, Gallandi, Lumper, Lachmann, Sprinzl.
[1289] Gaâb, Zahn, Caspari, Alzog, Salmon (in "Dict. of Chr. Biog. II. 912 sqq.).
[1290] "Pastorem vero nuperrime temporibus nostris in urbe Roma Herma (Hermas) conscripsit, sedente, [in] cathedra urbis Romae ecclesiae Pio episcopo, fratre ejus. Et ideo legi cum quidem opportet, se[d] publicare vero in ecclesia populo neque inter prophetas completum [read: completos] numero, neque inter apostolos, in finem temporum potest." The same view is set forth in a poem of pseudo-Tertullian against Marcion: Post hunc [Hyginus] deinde Pius, Hermas, cui germine frater, Angelicus Pastor, qui tradita verba locutus." It is also contained in the Liberian Catalogue of Roman bishops (A. D. 354), and advocated by Mosheim, Schröckh, Credner, Hefele, Lipsius, Ritschl, Heyne, v. Gebhardt, Harnack, Brüll, Funk, Uhlhorn, Baumgärtner. Others assume that the brother of Pius was the author, but simulated an elder Hermas.
[1291] Hilgenfeld desIgnates these authors H. a=Hermas apocalypticus H. P.=Hermas pastoralis H. s.=Hermas secundarius. See Prol. p. XXI. sq. Thiersch, Count de Champagny (Les Antonins, ed. III 1875, T. I, p. 144) and Guéranger likewise assumed more than one author. But the book is a unit. Comp. Harnack versus Hilgenfeld in the "Theol." Literatur-Zeitung" for 1882, f. 249 sqq., Link, Baumgärtner, Lambros, quoted above.
[1292] In Vis. II. 4 Hermas receives the command to write "two books and to send one to Clement and one to Grapte; " and Clement was to send the books to foreign cities (eis tas exo poleis). This seems to imply that he was the well known bishop of Rome. Grapte was a deaconess, having charge of widows and orphans. The opinion of Origen that Clement and Grapte represent the spiritual and literal methods of interpretation is merely an allegorical fancy. Donaldson and Harnack assume that Clement is an unknown person, but this is inconsistent with the assumed authority of that person.
[1293] He is told in the Second Vision, ch. 2: "Your seed, Hermas, has sinned against God, and they have blasphemed against the Lord, and in their great wickedness they, have betrayed their parents ... and their iniquities have been filled up. But make known these words to all your children, and to your wife who is to be your sister. For she does not restrain her tongue, with which she commits iniquity; but on hearing these words she will control herself, and will obtain mercy." The words "who is to be your sister" probably refer to future continence or separation. Tillemont and Hefele regard Hermas as a presbyter, but Fleury, Hilgenfeld, Thiersch, Zahn, Uhlhorn and Salmon as a layman. He always speaks of presbyters as if he were not one of them, and severely censures the Roman clergy. Justin Martyr was also a lay-preacher, but with more culture.
[1294] Zahn infers from the Jewish Greek idiom of Hermas that he grew up in Jewish circles and was perhaps acquainted with the Hebrew language. On the other hand Harnack supposes (Notes on Vis. I. 1) that Hermas was descended from Christian parents, else he would not have omitted to inform us of his conversion in the house of Rhoda. Hilgenfeld (p. 138) makes Hermas a Jew, but his master, who sold him, a Gentile. Robinson conjectures that he was a Greek slave )Sim. IX.) and wrote reminiscences of his youth.
[1295] The church officers appear as a plurality of presbuteroi, or seniores, or praesides, of equal rank, but Clement of Rome is supposed to have a certain supervision in relation to foreign churches. Vis. II., 2, 4; III, 9; Simil. IX., 31. In one passage )Vis. III., 5) Hermas mentions four officers "apostles, bishops, teachers, and deacons." The "bishops" here include presbyters, and the "teachers " are either all preachers of the gospel or the presbyter-bishops in their teaching (as distinct from their ruling) capacity and function. In other passages be names only the apostoloi and didaskaloi, Sim. IX., 15, 16, 25; comp. Paul's poimenes kai didaskaloi, Eph. 4:11. The statements of Hermas on church organization are rather loose and indefinite. They have been discussed by Hilgenfeld and Harnack in favor of presbyterianism, by Hefele and Rothe in favor of episcopacy. Lightfoot, who identifies Hermas with the brother of bishop Pius (140), says: " Were it not known that the writer's own brother was bishop of Rome (?), we should be at a loss what to say about the constitution of the Roman church in his day."(Com. on Philipp., p. 218.)
[1296] Adv. Haer. IV. 20, § 2: eipen he graphe he legousa. Then follows a quotation from Mand. I. 1: "First of all believe that there is one God who created and prepared and made all things out of nothing." Possibly the wrong reference was a slip of memory in view of familiar passages, 2 Macc. 7:28 (panta ex ouk onton epoisen); Heb. 11:3; Mark 12:29 (ho theos eis esti); James 2:18 Hilgenfeld thinks that the Hermas was known also to the author of the kerugma Petrou and pseudo-Clement.
[1297] See the quotations from Clement of Alex. and Origen in G. and H. Prol., p. LIII.-LVI. Zahn says that "the history of the ecclesiastical authority of Hermas in the East begins with an unbounded recognition of the same as a book resting on divine revelation."
[1298] In private only, or in the church? The passage is obscure and disputed.
[1299] On account of this comparative mildness (Mand. IV., 1), Tertullian calls Hermas sarcastically "ille apocryphus Pastor maechorum."De Pud. c. 20; comp. c. 10.
[1300] Jerome calls the Shepherd "revera utilis liber." which was publicly read in certain churches of Greece, and quoted by many ancient writers as an authority, but "almost unknown among the Latins" (apud Latinos' paene Ignotus). Op. II. 846. In another passage, Op. VI. 604, he condemns the view of the angelic supervision of animals (Vis. IV. 2).