Resumen de Community Building in the Shepherd of Hermas: A Critical Study of Some Key Aspects by Mark Grundeken (review)
Using a historical-critical method, Grundeken seeks to demonstrate his thesis in eleven aspects, organized in three main groups: four aspects of identity—the relation to Judaism, the views on the resurrection, the stance on outsiders, and the position on the authorities; two social aspects—the role of women and “charity”; and five ritual aspects—baptism and metanoia, community meals, the Sunday collection, dancing (and singing), and the “holy kiss.” [...]Chapter Eleven argues for a ritual kiss in Hermas’s community, turning sexual symbolism into a manifestation of asexual love. [...]the book tends to treat each theme/chapter in fragmented ways, and the author fails to connect and integrate several important themes together that are organically connected in Hermas: e.g., charity, metanoia, community meals, and even Sunday collection.
