Acknowledgements
From 2011 to 2013, I organized a series of conferences, colloquia, lectures, and a graduate course at Loyola University Chicago on the figure of Mary Magdalene that served as the impetus for the writing of this book. Many people have worked on its construction and completion. I particularly want to remember here my past and present students, many of whom were my teaching or research assistants, who invested their time and energy in the project. Some of them wrote papers on the subject of Mary Magdalene, published here as chapters. Trent Rogers first worked on the editing and the revising of the chapters and found many images published in the book. He was followed by Jef Tripp, Amanda Kunder, and later, Wesley Dingman. Then Joshua King, Scott Brevard, Zechariah Eberhart, and Eric Zito took on the responsibilities of helping me with the text. Joshua King deserves special thanks for his work, since he revised the entire text (particularly making revisions to the chapters translated from Italian) and painstakingly worked to finalize the lists of abbreviations, to harmonize quotes and bibliographies, and to construct the indexes. Whoever reads this book will understand the care with which Joshua has undertaken his work.
The work of the translators for the chapters originally written in Italian and the generosity of the institutions and individuals who consented to the free reproduction of images not in the public domain are duly recognized in this book. When we were forced to do without a reproduction of a specific work of art, readers have been referred to easily accessible websites.
I would like to express special gratitude to not only all of my former and present students, but particularly to the faculty, chairs, and staff of Loyola University Chicago’s Department of Theology for their support of this venture and to Randall Newman, who went above and beyond his professional duties as Program Coordinator for the Theology Department and the Endowed Chairs in the Humanities. I would also like to recognize the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of Research Services for their financial support of this project. That support, in addition to the funding provided through the John Cardinal Cody Chair, allowed this book to be published.
Finally, I want to express very special thanks to Tessa Schild and Dirk Bakker, from Brill Publishing Co. They very patiently accompanied and supported me through the maze of preparing this book, and it is not a rhetorical exaggeration to say that it would have never seen the light without them.