I am blessed with a number of remarkable colleagues and friends, who have been generous in sharing their knowledge: these include Jonathan Bonk, Christian Brady, Jonathan Brockopp, Roger Finke, Paul Harvey, Gary Knoppers, Tijana Krstic, Gregg Roeber, Gonzalo Rubio, and Janina Safran.
Also freely acknowledged—and very much missed—is my late friend Bill Petersen, one of the great modern scholars of Christian origins and of Eastern Christian history and literature.
In addition, I owe special thanks to Roger Freet, my editor at HarperOne, and to my agent, Elyse Cheney.
As I have said so often in the past, I say again without hesitation that the book could not have been written without the support of my wife, Liz Jenkins.