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Abstract
The Shepherd of Hermas was immensely popular in the early church, especially in Egypt to the fifth century. The structure of this long work has always eluded scholars. Despite earlier theories of multiple authorship, a new consensus is forming around a single author writing in several editions. Many characteristics of the text match those established by experts on orality as typical of oral texts, or text composed primarily as aids in oral proclamation in a predominantly oral culture. The Shepherd of Hermas was such a text, used by the author, a lightly literate freedman of Rome, over a period of years for oral teaching. It was expanded and amplified through many editions, giving it the loose structure it now has. Thus the Shepherd reveals much about popular preaching and belief in early Christianity.