God, slavery, and early Christianity : divine possession and ethics in the "Shepherd of Hermas" / Chance E. Bonar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bonar, Chance E., 1993- author.

Standardized Title:

Enslaved to God

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hermas, active 2nd century. Shepherd.

Hermas.

Slavery--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Slavery.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 317 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

Ancient Christians understood themselves to be enslaved to God, an attitude that affected their ethics, theology, and self-understanding. This widespread belief is made especially clear in the Shepherd of Hermas, an overlooked early Christian text written by an enslaved person, which was nearly included in the New Testament. In this book, Chance Bonar provides a robust analysis of the ancient discourses and practices of slavery found in the Shepherd of Hermas. He shows how the text characterizes God's enslaved persons as useful, loyal property who could be put to work, surveilled, and disciplined throughout their lives - and the afterlife. Bonar also investigates the notion that God enslaved believers, which allowed the Shepherd to theorize key early Christian concepts more deeply and in light of ancient Mediterranean slavery. Bonar's study clarifies the depth to which early Christians were entrenched - intellectually, practically, and theologically - in Roman slave society. It also demonstrates how the Shepherd offers new approaches to early Christian literary and historical interpretation.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title

Title page

Imprints page

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Acknowledgments

Glossary of Terms and Journals

Introduction

Goals and Thesis of the Book

Chapter Layout

Slavery: Definitions and Debates

Doulology and Moving beyond Mere Metaphor

Overview of the Shepherd

Why the Shepherd of Hermas?

Translating the Enslaved and Enslavers

1 Usefulness, Loyalty, and Property: Characteristics of God's Enslaved Persons

Slavery and Usefulness for the Tower

Enslaved Loyalty and Coerced Obligation

Enslaved Persons as Property

Conclusion

2 ''Give Me the Little Book'': Enslaved Literate Labor in the Shepherd

Hermas as Copyist and Inscriber

Hermas as the Assembly's Copyist

Hermas as the Shepherd's Taker of Dictation

Hermas as Enslaved Messenger

Hermas as Enslaved Lector

3 Possession and Enslavement through the Holy Spirit

The Human Body in the Shepherd

Enslavement to the Passions &amp

Spiritual Affect

The Enslaving Holy Spirit

Passion-Causing Spirits

4 Enslaved Surveillance and Spirit-Flesh Symbiosis

The Enslaver's Presence &amp

Enslaved Surveillance

The Spirit &amp

the Flesh in the ''Slave Parable'' of Sim. 5

5 Instrumental Agency and Ecclesiastical Unity

Agency among the Possessed/Enslaved

Masterly Extensibility and the Enslaver's Instrumental Agents

God's Enslaved Persons as God's Prostheses

Impossible Choices and Death

Ecclesial Unity and Chipping Away at God's Enslaved Persons

Bibliography

Ancient Literature Index

Author Index

Subject Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 22 Sep 2025).

ISBN:

1-009-61060-0

1-009-61063-5

1-009-61061-9