Is there something wrong about "The Shepherd of Hermas"?

Noxot

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I think maybe a few things can confuse people due to their ignorance or lack of faith but I don't think anything is wrong with it.

what is wrongest about it is that Christians did not try hard enough to preserve it.
 
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HTacianas

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Like any unorthodox belief or teaching?

I read the Shepherd of Hermes years ago and don't remember anything unorthodox about it, but that's just from memory. I did find it helpful that it defined "liar" as used within Christianity and also it clarified lusting after a woman to mean lusting after another man's wife, much like the Didascalia defines it.
 
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Pavel Mosko

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Like any unorthodox belief or teaching?

I should hope not, that book made many of the 1st lists of books back when the New Testament process of canonization started!


I know there are some passages that can sound weird etc. I guess I'm going to have to reread it for this thread...
 
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straykat

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I ran into a Protestant vid not long ago that said it was another sign of the "pagan" origins of "Catholicism". You know, another element of the whole Constantine conspiracy thing. And Shepherd of Hermas was evil because it sounded like the god Hermes :D

I've always been fond of it, but maybe it's more from the era of some Apostolic fathers. I could see why it isn't in the canon, but still worth reading.
 
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Not David

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It seems to imply Adoptionism:
"The Holy Pre-existent Spirit. Which created the whole creation, God made to dwell in flesh that He desired. This flesh, therefore, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt, was subject unto the Spirit, walking honorably in holiness and purity, without in any way defiling the Spirit. When then it had lived honorably in chastity, and had labored with the Spirit, and had cooperated with it in everything, behaving itself boldly and bravely, He chose it as a partner with the Holy Spirit; for the career of this flesh pleased [the Lord], seeing that, as possessing the Holy Spirit, it was not defiled upon the earth. He therefore took the son as adviser and the glorious angels also, that this flesh too, having served the Spirit unblamably, might have some place of sojourn, and might not seem to have lost the reward for its service; for all flesh, which is found undefiled and unspotted, wherein the Holy Spirit dwelt, shall receive a reward".
 
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ArmyMatt

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It seems to imply Adoptionism:
"The Holy Pre-existent Spirit. Which created the whole creation, God made to dwell in flesh that He desired. This flesh, therefore, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt, was subject unto the Spirit, walking honorably in holiness and purity, without in any way defiling the Spirit. When then it had lived honorably in chastity, and had labored with the Spirit, and had cooperated with it in everything, behaving itself boldly and bravely, He chose it as a partner with the Holy Spirit; for the career of this flesh pleased [the Lord], seeing that, as possessing the Holy Spirit, it was not defiled upon the earth. He therefore took the son as adviser and the glorious angels also, that this flesh too, having served the Spirit unblamably, might have some place of sojourn, and might not seem to have lost the reward for its service; for all flesh, which is found undefiled and unspotted, wherein the Holy Spirit dwelt, shall receive a reward".

how so? it says God made to dwell in the flesh that He desired.
 
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JackRT

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Do you mean like other Gospels and Epistles?

None of the gospels but several epistles:

John Dominic Crossan has provided a detailed classification of our sources for the historical Jesus according to the chronological stratification of the traditions. For a brief discussion of each source, including the reasons for its proposed dating, see John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus (HarperCollins, 1991) Appendix 1, pp. 427-50. All dates shown are C.E. (Common Era).

In the interest of brevity I have edited out references to non-canonical works:

Third Stratum [80 to 120 C.E.]

22. Gospel of Matthew (90)

23. Gospel of Luke (90s)

24. Revelation/Apocalypse of John (late 90s)

29. Letter of James (100)

30. Gospel of John I (early second century)

38. First Letter of Peter (112)

39. Letter of Polycarp, To the Philippians, 1314 (115)

40. First Letter of John (115)


Fourth Stratum [120 to 150 C.E.]

41. Gospel of John II (after 120)

42. Acts of the Apostles (after 120)

44. First Letter to Timothy (after 120)

45. Second Letter to Timothy (after 120)

46. Letter to Titus (after 120)

47. Second Letter of Peter (between 125 and 150)
 
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ArmyMatt

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None of the gospels but several epistles:

John Dominic Crossan has provided a detailed classification of our sources for the historical Jesus according to the chronological stratification of the traditions. For a brief discussion of each source, including the reasons for its proposed dating, see John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus (HarperCollins, 1991) Appendix 1, pp. 427-50. All dates shown are C.E. (Common Era).

In the interest of brevity I have edited out references to non-canonical works:

what evidence supports this?
 
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JackRT

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I am sure, any you can name?

The Pastoral letters (Titus, 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy) are attributed to Paul, but someone writing in Paul’s name wrote them around AD120, some 60 years after Paul’s death. Each letter uses vocabulary Paul is not known to have used; each has a different concept than Paul had of key matters such as faith; and each refers to Paul’s close friends Timothy and Titus in formal rather than friendly terms. They assume that Christian churches are governed by the kind of carefully organized authority structures that developed decades after Paul’s time. They are similar in style and in content and in the issues they raise. Scholars generally believe them to have been written by the same person.
 
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ArmyMatt

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The Pastoral letters (Titus, 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy) are attributed to Paul, but someone writing in Paul’s name wrote them around AD120, some 60 years after Paul’s death. Each letter uses vocabulary Paul is not known to have used; each has a different concept than Paul had of key matters such as faith; and each refers to Paul’s close friends Timothy and Titus in formal rather than friendly terms. They assume that Christian churches are governed by the kind of carefully organized authority structures that developed decades after Paul’s time. They are similar in style and in content and in the issues they raise. Scholars generally believe them to have been written by the same person.

but that's nothing new. we know St Paul dictated to followers, which isn't a good case that they were not from the 1st century.
 
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