Chapter Six
The Shepherd
of
Hermas
It has been established that The Shepherd was a book written by
Hermas between 88 and 97 AD at Patmos, near Ephesus. Like the
Gospel of Barnabas, it affirmed the Divine Unity, and it was for this
reason that concerted efforts were made to destroy it, once the doc
trine of Trinity had become firmly rooted in the established Pauline
Church. It was one of the books which was banned as a result of
the decisions made by the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.
It appears that Hermas wrote The Shepherd at about the same
time that John was writing his Gospel, although sorne people think
that The Shepherd was written before this. However, there is no dif
ference of opinion as regards the fact that Hermas had not read or
seen any of the four Gospels included in the New Testament. Sorne
believe that The Shepherd was inspired by the Gospel according to the
Hebrews, an earlier Gospel which no longer exists, but this is not
supported by the account given by Hermas himself of how the book
came to be written.
Up until the Council of Nicea, the book was accepted and widely
used by the early followers of Jesus, peace be on him and them,
who regarded Hermas as a prophet. Towards the end of the sec
ond century AD, The Shepherd was accepted as part of the New Tes
tamentby Clement ofAlexandria. Origen (185-254AD) also accepted
it as a revealed book, and it was placed, along with the Epistle of
Barnabas, at the end of the Codex Sinaiticus which, as we have al
ready seen, dates from about the late 4th or 5th century AD.
Tertullian (160-220 AD) at first accepted it, but later repudiated it
when he became a Montanist. Iranaeus (130-200 AD) accepted itas
a Scripture. Eusebius of Caesaria rejected it, but Athanasius ac
cepted it, in 367 AD, as being suitable for the private reading of
new couverts, Manichaeus, a Christian from Persia, took it far into
the East. Dante was also definitely influenced by the book.