| Like most books, this one has gone through many versions and formulations. Some of the material originally appeared in different form in a doctoral thesis written at The University of Chicago under the direction of James M. Gustafson, David Tracy, and Langdon B. Gilkey. I thank each of my mentors. My debt to them is obvious throughout the pages of this study even as I chart different directions of thought. |
| The argument of the book has been substantially rethought for its presentation in the current form. Bits of the argument have appeared in articles. I have noted these in the text. Throughout this process of rethinking, I have received insight and encouragement from C. Edward Arrington, Kristine Culp, Lois Daly, Julius J. Jackson, Jr., David E. Klemm, Terence J. Martin, Jr., Richard B. Miller, Douglas E Ottati, Douglas Schuurman, Barry Stenger, and Michael Welker. My thanks to each of them. In and through these friendships the power of solidarity and of speaking has transformed and enhanced my thought. |
| Bringing a manuscript through revision and to publication is not an easy task. This work has been made easier for me through the care of Fordham University Press. I have also received considerable help with the text from Jane E. Jadlos, Beth Colleen Junker, Kelton Cobb, Peter Gerhard, and Steve McGuire. Each of them demanded clarity of mere a demand, I fear, I have not always met. |
| Along the way I received support from the Charlotte B. Newcombe Fellowship, the Dempster Graduate Award, the Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion at The University of Chicago, and an Old Gold Fellowship through the University of Iowa. My thanks to each of these institutions. |
| Finally, my deepest gratitude to my parents, William and Novello Schweiker, and my wife, Mary Ingberg Schweiker. Their lives have formed and refigured mine in ways too deep to express. |
| This book, like any other, is not the product of one person's imagination, insight, and labor. Yet for all of that, I alone remain responsible for its argument. |
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