The Good Shepherd: Image, Meaning, and Power

Awes Freeman, Jennifer

ISBN 10: 1481315374 / ISBN 13: 9781481315371

Published by Baylor University Press, 2021

About this Item

Freeman, Jennifer Awes: The Good Shepherd: Image, Meaning, and Power. Waco (TX) : Baylor University Press, 2021. First printing. Size is royal octavo (8vo), 9.25"/24cm H. Bound in publisher's black cloth, gilt lettering imprinted to spine. Matte color DJ features reproduction of the Good Shepherd mosaic from the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna. Plain white endpapers. xviii pp prelim material, 187 numbered pp, plus three blank following, plus eight pp color plates inserted to middle of textblock. Numerous figures in both color and b&w, bibliography, index. Condition notes: Signed by Jennifer Awes Freeman on title page. Not quite 'as new' due to tail corners being bumped. But otherwise flawless, no notes or highlighting, tight and square. Light wear to dj. We personally inspect every book we offer.

Seller Inventory # 211205004

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Good Shepherd: Image, Meaning, and Power
• Publisher: Baylor University Press
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1481315374
• ISBN 13: 9781481315371
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Signed by Author
• Seller catalogs:
  • Christianity

About this title

Synopsis

A statuette of Egyptian King Pepi formidably wielding a shepherd’s crook stands in stark contrast to a fresco of an unassuming Orpheus-like youth gently hoisting a sheep around his shoulders. Both images, however, occupy an extensive tradition of shepherding motifs. In the transition from ancient Near Eastern depictions of the keeper of flocks as one holding great power to the more "pastoral" scenes of early Christian art, it might appear that connotations of rulership were divested from the image of the shepherd. The reality, however, presents a much more complex tapestry.

The Good Shepherd: Image, Meaning, and Power traces the visual and textual depictions of the Good Shepherd motif from its early iterations as a potent symbol of kingship, through its reimagining in biblical figures, such as the shepherd-king David, and onward to the shepherds of Greco-Roman literature. Jennifer Awes Freeman reveals that the figure of the Good Shepherd never became humble or docile but always carried connotations of empire, divinity, and defensive violence even within varied sociopolitical contexts. The early Christian invocation of the Good Shepherd was not simply anti-imperial but relied on a complex set of associations that included king, priest, pastor, and sacrificial victim--even as it subverted those meanings in the figure of Jesus, both shepherd and sacrificial lamb. The concept of the Good Shepherd continued to prove useful for early medieval rulers, such as Charlemagne, but its imperial references waned in the later Middle Ages as it became more exclusively applied to church leaders.

Drawing on a range of sources including literature, theological treatises, and political texts, as well as sculpture, mosaics, and manuscript illuminations,  The Good Shepherd offers a significant contribution as the first comprehensive study of the long history of the Good Shepherd motif. It also engages the flexible and multivalent abilities of visual and textual symbols to convey multiple meanings in religious and political contexts.

About the Author

Jennifer Awes Freeman is Assistant Professor and Program Director of Theology and the Arts at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.