The references to social differences in the Shepherd, especially in the Second Similitude and Tenth Mandate, suggest a social context in which traditional biblical values of attention to the poor are in tension with the behavior of members of the church community to which the author belongs. Rather than the usual judgment of the Shepherd as a treatise on early penitential discipline, it is in fact a window into the social relationships and challenges of an early second-century Christian community.

Carolyn Osiek is Professor of New Testament at Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, TX.