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A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.
How do you know the nature of another person: who she is, or what she is capable of? In four exploratory essays, a seasoned historian examines the mechanisms by which ancient people came to have knowledge—not of the world and its myriad processes but about something more intimate, namely the individuals they encountered in close quarters, those they knew in everyday life. Tracing previously unfathomed structures beneath the surface of late ancient Christianity, Ellen Muehlberger reveals surprising insights about the ancient world and, by extension, the modern. Things Unseen holds treasures for scholars of early Christian studies, for historians in general, and for all those who wonder about how we know what we seem to know.
How do you know the nature of another person: who she is, or what she is capable of? In four exploratory essays, a seasoned historian examines the mechanisms by which ancient people came to have knowledge—not of the world and its myriad processes but about something more intimate, namely the individuals they encountered in close quarters, those they knew in everyday life. Tracing previously unfathomed structures beneath the surface of late ancient Christianity, Ellen Muehlberger reveals surprising insights about the ancient world and, by extension, the modern. Things Unseen holds treasures for scholars of early Christian studies, for historians in general, and for all those who wonder about how we know what we seem to know.
Price: $34.95
Pages: 196
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
November 4, 2025
Trim Size: 8.50 X 5.50 in
ISBN: 9780520423589
Format: Paperback
“An evocative and rewarding work for anyone interested in late antiquity and the ancient world more broadly.”
“The beautiful prose and searing images of Things Unseen make the world of late antiquity seem vivid and visceral, fraught and daunting. All of this is done by asking strikingly modern questions about ancient sources—questions about empathy, identity, reputation, and lineage. . . . Muehlberger’s book has done a remarkable service to the field. While she has not invented the genre of the lecture series book, she has certainly breathed new life into it.”
Ellen Muehlberger is Professor of History at the University of Michigan. She is author of Angels in Late Ancient Christianity and Moment of Reckoning: Imagined Death and Its Consequences in Late Ancient Christianity and serves as editor for the Journal of Early Christian Studies.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
1. Impossible Women
2. Foundations of Knowledge
3. The Advent of the Superfather
4. Faces in the Crowds
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index
Preface
Introduction
1. Impossible Women
2. Foundations of Knowledge
3. The Advent of the Superfather
4. Faces in the Crowds
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index