Although I have been working intensively on this book for about five years, many of its themes have occupied my thoughts for much longer. In preparing The Pauline Churches (Cambridge University Press, 1988) I became fascinated with the question of how the reaction of non-believers to early Christian groups may have affected life in the early church. Early Christian women and pagan opinion considers this question with a specific focus on early Christian women.

In conducting this study I was frequently required to venture outside my own field of Early Christian Studies to consider the work of anthropologists of Mediterranean societies and the work of scholars in the area of women and religion. Given the interdisciplinary nature of my study, I set out deliberately to write a book which I hope will interest specialists, but will also engage more general readers. I have made extensive use of footnotes throughout which will offer scholars of early Christianity further information about textual backgrounds and related studies.

My investigation has been enriched by many conversations with graduate students. In addition, I have received assistance from students working in conjunction with the Canadian Centre for Research on Women and Religion at the University of Ottawa. Steven Muir, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa, deserves special mention for editing, bibliographical work, and proof-reading.