Writing acknowledgments for a book is, for me, a deeply humbling task. This is the case because it is at this moment in the process—as my manuscript is on the verge of becoming a book—that I realize how small a part I have played in bringing the work to fruition. The words that follow are of course mine, but the thoughts they reflect are the products of myriad conversations over the last decade with friends and colleagues from vastly different disciplines who approach texts and ideas from wildly different angles. I am lucky to be the beneficiary of all their wisdom.
In the most literal of ways this book would not exist if it weren’t for Julie Byrne, Jo Ann Carson, Andrew Jacobs, Katie Lofton, and Dale Martin. To Jo Ann, a longtime family friend and a model of women in academia, I hope this book is a satisfactory answer to your questions about my claims concerning painless martyrdom in Dying to Be Men. Katie and Julie, thank you for your eternal confidence in me and in my work. Without your push to get this project off the ground, I might still be mired in the fear of putting words to the page. Dale and Andrew, each of you at various times over the last few years has offered feedback that pushed this project from a short journal article into a book. I hope I have begun to answer the insightful and complex questions you asked.
I am fortunate to have brilliant friends—old and new—who have supported this project and myself: Julia Kasdorf, whom I met by chance on a friend’s porch, has been an inspirational dialogue partner about martyr narratives and their social functions; Diane Lipsett, whose enviable intelligence helped nuance my argument in untold numbers of places; Jane Geaney, who urged me to find a happy story in a book about pain and torture, and who continuously reminds me that Romans were not the only people inhabiting the ancient world; Amy Howard, who pushed me to let go and put the manuscript out into the world; Lynn Neal, who motivates me to work but who also drinks margaritas with me when I just can’t write; Mark Masterson, whose candid thoughts on an early draft sent me back to the drawing board—and the project is better for it; Mari Lee Mifsud, who constantly reminds me that rhetorical theory is everywhere in the ancient world. As always, I am eternally thankful for my family, who provides regular—and much needed—respite from martyrs and pain.
I have been the grateful recipient of funding, which allowed me to complete this project more quickly than I would otherwise have been able to do. I would like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities both for the opportunity to join a Summer Travel Seminar in 2010 to Tunisia, where so many of these texts first came alive to me, and for summer funding in 2014. The University of Richmond, School of Arts and Sciences granted me a perfectly timed research leave in the spring of 2014, during which I was able to draft most of this book. The university has also generously granted me Summer Research Funding for several consecutive years.
I extend my thanks to Eric Schmidt of the University of California Press for his interest in the book and especially for his willingness to venture into the world of Christian martyrdom. Maeve Cornell-Taylor has been wonderful to work with, providing quick answers to any questions that arise. I am grateful to Rachel Berchten, the production editor at the Press, for keeping the project on schedule. I am especially thankful for Jeff Wyneken’s good cheer and expert eye in copyediting the manuscript. I wish to extend my thanks, too, to the readers of the manuscript for their comments and confidences regarding this project.
I am particularly indebted to Patrick H. Alexander. I can think of no individual who has been more constant over the course of this project and who has given exactly the kind of support required: pushing me when I wasn’t up to writing; reminding me that relaxing is okay and even necessary; going on adventures together across the world; sharing my fascination with the ancient Roman world and with Christian texts, in particular. It is not often, I suspect, that someone is prouder and more excited to see a project completed than the author. But I have no doubts that, in this case, Patrick is. And for that, I am forever grateful.
I have dedicated this book to Bart D. Ehrman, my doctoral advisor and my friend. He has been a constant champion of my work and early on urged me to pursue this book. In addition to the academic training I received from him, he continuously reminds me that even in the midst of academic work there is time in life for baseball and a nice single malt scotch. For all of these things and more, I am thankful.