God, Slavery, and Early Christianity - Divine Possession and Ethics in the Shepherd of Hermas

"Ancient Christians understood themselves to be enslaved to God, which affected their ethics, theology, and self-understanding. This book analyzes the Shepherd of Hermas, an overlooked early Christian text written by an enslaved person, which was nearly included in the New Testament, to map the effects of divine slavery."--

List of contents

Introduction; 1. Usefulness, loyalty, and property: characteristics of God's enslaved persons; 2. 'Give me the little book': enslaved literate labor in the Shepherd; 3. Possession and enslavement through the Holy spirit; 4. Enslaved surveillance and Spirit-flesh symbiosis; 5. Instrumental agency and ecclesiastical unity; Conclusion; Bibliography.

About the author

Chance Bonar is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for the Humanities, Tufts University.

Product details

• Authors: Chance E. Bonar
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 30.09.2025
• EAN: 9781009610629
• ISBN: 978-1-009-61062-9
• Illustrations: Worked examples or Exercises
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Fairytales, sagas, legends; Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; RELIGION / History, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / General, History of Religion, Classical texts, Ancient, classical and medieval texts