ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK everyone who helped me in writing this book. Thanks first of all to the National Humanities Center, which provided me a fellowship in 2009–10 that allowed me to do the research. The staff, from the top down, were absolutely marvelous. Special thanks to the amazing library staff, Josiah Drewery, Jean Houston, and Eliza Robertson, who have gone far beyond what anyone could hope for in providing research assistance. May their tribe increase.

Several smart and insightful people graciously read the manuscript in its final stages, and I owe them a huge debt of gratitude: Dale Martin, of the Department of Religion at Yale, who is never afraid to tell me when I’m wrong; Jeff Siker, of the Department of Theology at Loyola Marymount, who occasionally lets me know when I’m right; Joel Marcus, of the Divinity School at Duke, who after all these years continues to wield a mighty red pen; an anonymous reader for the press who provided numerous challenging insights; my daughter, Kelly Ehrman, who is unusually gifted in recognizing literary inelegance; and above all my beloved wife, Sarah Beckwith, professor of medieval and renaissance English at Duke, who is uncannily smart and insightful and is, on top of it all, a walking bibliography.

Thanks as well to my insightful and encouraging editor at HarperOne, Roger Freet, and all the other Harper folk who have always provided extraordinary help and support: Mark Tauber, Claudia Boutote, Mickey Maudlin, and Julie Burton.

Unless otherwise indicated, translations of ancient texts are mine.

I have dedicated the book to granddaughter number two, Sierra, who has seen the light of day for just a year, but is already shining, herself, with an extraordinary brilliance.