dy of the early Christian women takes up a phase of the history
of woman which is peculiar to itself. It is, in a sense and to a degree,
out of historical sequence. It deals with a subject in which ideas and
spiritual forces, rather than the effect of racial development, are
brought into view. It presents difficulties all its own, for the reason
that not only historical facts about which there can be no contention
must be mentioned, but also theories of a more or less controversial
nature. We shall endeavor, however, as far as is possible, to confine
ourselves to the recapitulation of well-authenticated historical
developments and to a dispassionate portrayal of those feminine
characters who participated in and were influenced by the new doctrines
of early Christianity.

In writing of the women who were the contemporaries and the
acquaintances of the Founder of Christianity the difficulty is very
greatly enhanced by the fact that everything related to the subject is
not only regarded as sacred, but is also enshrined in preconceptions
which are held by the majority of people with jealous partiality. Our
source of information is almost exclusively the Bible; and to deal with
Scriptural facts with the same impartiality with which one deals with
the narrative of common history is well-nigh impossible. There are few
persons who are exempt from a prejudicial leaning, either in favor of
the supernatural importance of every Scriptural detail or in opposition
to those claims which are commonly based upon the Gospel history. We
hear of the Bible being studied merely as literature, a method most
highly advantageous to a fair understanding of its meaning and purport,
but possible only to some imaginary, educated person, unacquainted with
the Christian religion and totally unequipped with theological
conceptions. That which is true of the Bible as literature is also
applicable to the Scripture considered as history.

Yet we shall endeavor to bear in mind that we are not writing a
religious book, and that this is not a treatise on Church history; it is
ordinary history and must be written in ordinary methods. Consequently,
in order to do this subject justice and to treat it rightly, we must
endeavor to remove the women mentioned in the Gospels as far as possible
from the atmosphere of the supernatural and to see in them ordinary
persons of flesh and blood, typifying the times as well as the
circumstances to which they belonged. Thou