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Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
    Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.: Excerpts from the New Testament. The Scripture quotations in this publication are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible , copyrighted 1946, 1952, © 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and used by permission.
    Wm. B. Eerdman’s Publishing Co.: Excerpts from Tertullian, Iranaeus and Hippolytus. Reprinted from The Ante Nicene Fathers by permission of the Wm. B. Eerdman’s Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan.
    Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.: Excerpts from The Nag Hammadi Library by James M. Robinson. Copyright © 1977 by E. J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands. Reprinted by permission of E. J. Brill and Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.
    Harvard University Press: Excerpts from Clement and Ignatius, in The Apostolic Fathers , 1912, The Loeb Classical Library, translated by Kirsopp Lake. Reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press.
    Lutterworth Press and The Westminster Press: Excerpts from New Testament Apocrypha , Volume I, edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher and Edgar Hennecke. English translation edited by R. McL. Wilson. Published in the U.S.A. by The Westminster Press, 1963. Copyright © 1959 J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen. English translation © 1963 Lutterworth Press. Excerpts from New Testament Apocrypha , Volume II, edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher and Edgar Hennecke. English translation edited by R. McL. Wilson. Published in the U.S.A. by The Westminster Press, 1966. Copyright © 1964 J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen. English translation © 1965 Lutterworth Press. Used by permission.
    Oxford University Press: Excerpts from The Acts of the Christian Martyrs , translated by Herbert Musurillo. Copyright © Oxford University Press 1972. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press.

To Elizabeth Diggs and Sharon Olds
in loving friendship

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    T HE WRITING of this book began several years ago with research into the relation between politics and religion in the origins of Christianity. The first four chapters have been published in more technical form in scholarly journals (specific references precede the footnotes of each chapter).
    In preparing this volume I have generally chosen to follow the translations offered in The Nag Hammadi Library , edited by James M. Robinson, since these are readily available to all readers. In certain cases, however, I have changed the translation for the sake of clarity, consistency or interpretation (for example, I have translated the Coptic transliteration of the Greek termnot as “perfection,” but as “fulfillment,” which seems to me more accurate; in other cases, where the Coptic termapparently translates the GreekI have translated it not as “man” but as “humanity”). In the case of two texts, I have used different translations (see below).
    I am especially grateful to those colleagues and friends who have read and criticized the entire manuscript: Peter Berger, John Gager, Dennis Groh, Howard Kee, George MacRae, Wayne Meeks and Morton Smith. For other advice and criticism, specifically of aspects of the introduction, I owe grateful thanks to Marilyn Harran, Marvin Meyer, Birger Pearson, GillesQuispel, Richard Ogust and James M. Robinson. I am grateful, too, to Bentley Layton for permission to use his translation of the Treatise on Resurrection , and to James Brashler for permission to use his translation of the Apocalypse of Peter.
    Special thanks are due the Rockefeller Foundation, the Lita A. Hazen Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation for their support, which granted me the time to devote to writing; and to President Jacqueline Mattfeld and Vice President Charles Olton for approving a year’s leave from my responsibilities at Barnard College.