HERMAS, SHEPHERD OF).
We come finally to the anonymous Teaching of the Twelve Apostles and Papias's Exposition of Oracles of the Lord, so far as this is known to us. The former, besides embodying catechetical instruction in Christian conduct (the "Two Ways"), which goes back in substance to the early apostolic age and is embodied also in "Barnabas," depicts in outline the fundamental usages of church life as practised in some conservative region about the last quarter of the i st century and perhaps even later. The whole is put forth as substantially the apostolic teaching (Didache) on the subjects in question. This is probably a bona fide claim. It expresses the feeling common to the Apostolic Fathers and general in the sub apostolic age, at any rate in regions where apostles had once laboured, that local tradition, as held by the recognized church leaders, did but continue apostolic doctrine and practice (see DIDACHE).
The question of external form passes readily over into that of the internal character and spirit. As Lightfoot points out, however, personality, with its variety of temperament and em phasis, largely colours the Apostolic Fathers, especially the primary group. Clement has all the Roman feeling for duly constituted order and discipline ; Ignatius has the Syrian or semi oriental passion of devotion, showing itself at once in his mystic love for his Lord and his over-strained yearning to become His very "disciple" by drinking the like cup of martyrdom ; Polycarp is, above all things, steady in his allegiance to what had first won his conscience and heart, and his "passive and receptive character" comes out in the contents of his epistle. Of the rest, whose per sonalities are less known to us, Papias shares Polycarp's qualities and their limitations, the anonymous homilist and Hermas are marked by intense moral earnestness, while the writer to Diog netus joins to this a profound religious insight.
When, however, we examine the doctrinal contents of these writings, we find that the perspective of the Gospel was seriously changed and its most distinctive features obscured. This was specially the case with the experimental doctrines of grace. Here the central glory of the Cross as "the power of God unto salvation" suffered some eclipse, although the passion of Christ was felt to be a transcendent act of Divine Grace in one way or another. But even more serious was the loss of an adequate sense of the contrast between "grace" and "works" as conditions of salvation.
In attempting a final estimate of their value for the his torian today, we may sum up under these heads : ecclesiastical, theological, religious. (a) As a mine of materials for reconstruct ing the history of church institutions they are invaluable, and that largely in virtue of their spontaneous character, with no view to the public generally or to posterity. (b) Theologically, as a stage in the history of Christian doctrine, their value is as great negatively as positively. Impressive as is their witness to the persistence of the apostolic teaching in its essential features, amidst all personal and local variations, perhaps the most striking thing about these writings is the degree in which they fail to appre ciate certain elements of the apostolic teaching as embodied in the New Testament. This negative aspect has a twofold bearing. Firstly, it suggests the supernormal level to which the apostolic consciousness was raised at a bound by the direct influence of the Founder of Christianity, and justifies the marking-off of the apostolic writings as a canon, or body of Christian classics of unique religious authority. To this principle Marcion's Pauline Canon is a witness, though in too one-sided a spirit. Secondly, it means that the actual development of ecclesiastical doctrine began, not from the apostolic consciousness itself, but from a lower level, that of the inadequate consciousness of the sub-apos tolic church. This theological "retrogression" is of much signifi cance for the history of dogma. (c) On the other hand, there is great religious and moral continuity, beneath even theological discontinuity, in the life working below all conscious apprehension of the deeper ideas involved (E. von Dobschiitz, Christian Life in the Primitive Church, 1905). There is continuity in character; the Apostolic Fathers strike us as truly good men, with a goodness raised to a new type and power. This is what the Gospel of Christ aims chiefly at producing as its proper fruit; and the Apostolic Fathers would have desired no better record than that they were themselves genuine "epistles of Christ." BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The most useful edition for ready reference, conBibliography.-The most useful edition for ready reference, con- taining texts and translations, is that of Kirsopp Lake in the Loeb Classical Library (1912) ; and Lightfoot's one-volume edition, The Apostolic Fathers (1891) is still useful. The most important complete editions in modern times are those of Funk (1 got) ; Lightfoot (1885 ff.) ; and Gebhardt, Harnack, and Zahn (jointly, 1875 ff.).