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Book Review: The Didache and the Shepherd: The Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas

it makes clear in historical-critical terms the situation and context in which the various New Testament books and underlying traditions are believed to belong. Third, it takes enormous pains in seeking to define what the slippery term 'asceticism' should be taken to mean, and therefore what perspective is being adopted in the scrutiny of particularly relevant New Testament material. No attempt is made to conceal divergence of judgment where proper and relevant definition of asceticism is concerned. Saldarini speaks in terms of the social construction of the self related to an educative process and issuing in disciplined behaviour. The majority of contributors opt to play variations on Valantasis' more abstract delineation in terms of an intentional drive towards a new self, a restructuring of social relations, and the construction of a supportive symbolic world. Sometimes the significant element of self-denial gets unduly relegated to the margins. Yet the positive emphasis on goal in counter-cultural terms stands valuably foursquare, and the underlying assumption that a reaffirmation of the basic goodness of the created order is involved is properly maintained. Undergirding all is the platform of the ascetical phenomenon found in GraecoRoman society, helpfully deployed as a methodological wedge for directing interpretation. This is a study that by asking fresh questions of the New Testament gets new answers. It has contemporary significance. It may usefully be read with Peter Brown's The Body and Society in the other hand.