Chapter VII - “In that region there were shepherds living in the fields …”

Summary

Chapter VII turns to a group on the margins of Greco-Roman society: shepherds. In the New Testament period shepherds held a position very different from that of the shepherd kings of the Old Testament. New Testament exegesis made use of the symbolism of this profession derived from the Old Testament. It has been on the one hand the motif of the ‘shepherd of the people’ as a symbol of the exemplary ruler and on the other hand the image of the ‘good shepherd’ as allegory of Jesus Christ that have so far dominated scholarly interpretation. Limited examination of these different terms has hampered research into the actual lives of shepherds in Roman times. The study of the papyri from Roman Egypt enables us to reconstruct this reality.