Book contents
- God, Slavery, and Early Christianity
- God, Slavery, and Early Christianity
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Glossary of Terms and Journals
- Introduction
- 1 Usefulness, Loyalty, and Property
- 2 “Give Me the Little Book”
- 3 Possession and Enslavement through the Holy Spirit
- 4 Enslaved Surveillance and Spirit–Flesh Symbiosis
- 5 Instrumental Agency and Ecclesiastical Unity
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Ancient Literature Index
- Author Index
- Subject Index
5 - Instrumental Agency and Ecclesiastical Unity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 September 2025
Book contents
- God, Slavery, and Early Christianity
- God, Slavery, and Early Christianity
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Glossary of Terms and Journals
- Introduction
- 1 Usefulness, Loyalty, and Property
- 2 “Give Me the Little Book”
- 3 Possession and Enslavement through the Holy Spirit
- 4 Enslaved Surveillance and Spirit–Flesh Symbiosis
- 5 Instrumental Agency and Ecclesiastical Unity
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Ancient Literature Index
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Summary
The final chapter explores the problems of agency and conformity among the enslaved at both individual and communal levels. I situate the Shepherd among ancient Mediterranean writers who understood enslaved persons to function as extensions of their own personae, as well as in conversation with Africana, feminist, postcolonial, and slavery studies on the agency of enslaved and possessed individuals. I suggest that God’s enslaved persons, as possessed instrumental agents of God, are imagined to be empowered by the enslaver to take particular actions and acquire particular virtues that contribute both to their enslaved obedience and their salvation. I then turn to the construction of a tower, the most lengthy visionary account in the Shepherd. Placed alongside Vitruvius’s On Architecture and Sara Ahmed’s scholarship, I argue that the Shepherd portrays the bodies of the enslaved as (ideally) uniformly shaped pieces of a monolithic ecclesiastical whole. Being “useful for the construction of the tower” is made manifest by how the various stones are shaped, reshaped, or rejected from being used to build a tower that is said to represent both God’s house and the Christian assembly itself.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- God, Slavery, and Early ChristianityDivine Possession and Ethics in the Shepherd of Hermas, pp. 200 - 256Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.0 A
The PDF of this book
conforms to version 2.0 of the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG), ensuring core accessibility principles are addressed and meets the basic
(A)
level of WCAG compliance, addressing essential accessibility barriers.
Content Navigation
Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Index navigation
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Reading Order & Textual Equivalents
Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
Full alternative textual descriptions
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
Visual Accessibility
Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
Use of high contrast between text and background colour
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.