This volume of twelve essays celebrates the contributions of classicist Judith Perkins to the study of early Christianity. Drawing on Perkins's insights related to apocryphal texts, representations of pain and suffering, and the creation of meaning, contributors explore the function of Christian narratives that depict pain and suffering, the motivations of the early Christians who composed these stories, and their continuing value to contemporary people. Contributors also examine how narratives work to create meaning in a religious context. These contributions address these issues from a variety of angles through a wide range of texts.
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Janet Spittler is an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. She is the author of Animals in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: The Wild Kingdom of Early Christian Literature (2008).