The Lady as Elder in the Shepherd of Hermas

This article argues that the elder Lady in the first three Visions of the Shepherd of Hermas provides evidence of women functioning as elders in an early Christian community, though this form of presbyteral leadership is undermined by a later textual insertion (Vis. 3.10–13). I contend that this insertion, in which a young man addressed as "Lord" reinterprets the Lady's old age as a symbol of spiritual weakness, is not a simple supplemental interpretation. Rather, it represents a strategy for restricting the status and opportunities of women functioning as "elders." Whether the later work of a single author or of a separate redactor, this insertion prepared the text for circulation among communities that privileged the authority of young (or spiritually revitalized) men. My focus on the elder Lady's speech and actions in the first three Visions renders visible a fuller range of her pastoral, prophetic, instructive, and inclusive model of presbyteral leadership.