Experiencing the shepherd of Hermas / edited by Angela Kim Harkins and Harry O. Maier.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Harkins, Angela Kim, 1973- editor.

Maier, Harry O., 1959- editor.

Series:

Ekstasis (Walter de Gruyter & Co.) ; Volume 10.

Ekstasis : religious experience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages ; Volume 10

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Experience (Religion).

Prophecy.

Hermas, active 2nd century.

Hermas.

Shepherd (Hermas).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (XII, 275 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter, [2022]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The Shepherd of Hermas is one of the oldest and most well-attested Christian works. Its popularity arguably exceeded that of the canonical Gospels. Many early Christian thinkers regarded the Shepherd as authoritative and cited it in their own writings, even though its status as Scripture was controversial. The far-reaching influence of the Shepherd during the first few centuries is attested in part by the many languages in which it was copied: Latin, Ethiopic, Coptic, Middle Persian, and Georgian. The early dating and wide dissemination of the Shepherd of Hermas offers us access to a period when canonical boundaries were elastic. This volume treats religious experience in the Shepherd, a topic that has received little scholarly attention. It complements a growing body of literature that explores the text from social-historical perspectives. Leading scholars approach it from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, including critical literary theory, anthropology, cognitive science, affect theory, gender studies, intersectionality, and text reception. In doing so, they pose fresh questions to one of the most widely read texts in the early church, offering new insights to scholars and students alike.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Foreword

Table of Contents

Introduction

I The Shepherd, the Self, and Subjectivity

Negotiating the Experience of Possession in Hermas’s Shepherd

A True Prophet as a Mouthpiece of the Spirit? Cultivating Virtue and Control

Gender, Volubility, and Transformation in the Shepherd of Hermas

The Affect and Happy Objects of the Shepherd of Hermas

II Visions and Experiences of the Divine

Psychotropic Elements in Hermas’s First Two Visions: Between Experience and Culture

Entering the Narrative World of Hermas’s Visions

Experience through Narrative in the Shepherd of Hermas

Shepherd of Hermas Vision 5 and the Christian Experience of Pagan Epiphany

God’s Multiple Forms: Divine Fluidity in the Shepherd of Hermas

III Experiencing the Shepherd as Text

The Former Slave Hermas, Lady Church and ‘the Book’

Authority, Fragmentation, Dilution: Experiencing an Apocalyptic Text in Late Antiquity

Bibliography

List of Contributors

Index of Subjects

Ancient Text Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

3-11-078074-7