Jennifer Awes Freeman presents a compelling case for the reinterpretation of the image of the Good Shepherd in early Christian images and texts. Many art historians, including Theodore Klauser, Henry Chadwick, R. Grigg, and Robin Jensen, have discussed images of the Good Shepherd as representing the humility and modesty of the early grass-roots movement of Christianity. This traditional interpretation juxtaposes this early humble shepherd imagery with the later imperially sponsored images of Jesus-as-emperor situated on a throne within the spaces of church apses. Awes Freeman charges that these interpretations assume that the Good Shepherd is a Christian invention and overlook understandings of shepherd imagery from the ancient world. The author draws on the work of Thomas F. Matthews, specifically The Clash of Gods (Princeton University Press, 1993), to challenge prevailing scholarship. She argues that early Christian writers were employing an image and idea of the Good Shepherd that drew on earlier understandings of this imagery, which “carried connotations of divinity and empire” (4) and was not associated with the humility and modesty that inform current interpretations. Instead of housing a static and straightforward anti-imperialist meaning, the Good Shepherd changes meaning over time and includes conflicting meanings related to power and violence.

This book situates the Good Shepherd within the art and literature of the Ancient Near East and Greco-Roman worlds and demonstrates the flexibility and fluidity of the image and its meaning through the Early Middle Ages. This is an ambitious project of recontextualizing a familiar image type across several thousand years of history and several thousand miles of geography. She describes the particular cultural and geographical meanings of the Good Shepherd through time and place, offering appropriate context without getting lost in any particular contextual tangent. Awes Freeman succeeds in presenting a compelling case for reinterpretation that remedies this literary and art historical oversight. This is no small feat and offers an important model for scholars looking to do similar work in tracing the development of a particular artistic theme.

Chapter 1 examines the ways in which Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Israelite rulers styled themselves in relation to shepherd imagery, which emphasized the king as a shepherd who brought justice to the people (Mesopotamia), guided souls (Egypt), and was divinely appointed (ancient Israelites). The connection between kings and shepherds appears in literary and art historical sources including the Sumerian King List, the Epic of Gilgamesh, stelae, cuneiform tablets, statues of rulers, numerous inscriptions, and the Hebrew Bible. Chapter 2 examines shepherds as guides of the people in ancient Greece and Rome, drawing examples from the Iliad, the Odyssey, Plato's Dialogues, Livy's History of Rome, the New Testament, mosaics, sculpture, and other archeological finds. Chapter 3 looks at the theme of the “shepherd-victim as lawgiver” (79) in the early Church, drawing on examples from early Christian art, hymns, Augustine's City of God, and writings about emperors. Chapter 4 examines Old English, Carolingian, and Romanesque art and writing to lay out a case of the Good Shepherd as “guide, protector, and judge” (122), using art and literary examples.

While few scholars could claim expertise in the many languages and cultures covered in this chapter, Awes Freeman demonstrates remarkable dexterity in surveying the relevant scholarship, much of it from the last decade, that describes and explains the examples she uses. She offers grounded examples that support her themes without losing the thread of a coherent narrative. Still, such an all-encompassing project tracing a single theme through history is likely to contain flaws in specific translations and to overlook important conversations that exist regarding the particular examples offered. It is a hazard of such a project. Nevertheless, the author creates her argument with care and through diligent citation. The book will hopefully prompt new discussion around the meaning of the Good Shepherd and inspire other scholars to resist inherited wisdom and recontextualize the things we think we know about early Christian art and ideas.