Christian Women in the Patristic World is a profoundly pedagogical book. Its usefulness for students and as a resource for instructors is immediately evident in its accessible introductions to topics and famous figures, connections to present-day concepts through playful, colloquial phrases, and sections in which the authors prioritize presentation of multiple perspectives on a scholarly question over the adoption of a single stance. The authors have gathered the fruits of wide-ranging scholarship to offer a selective examination of significant women from the early centuries of Christian faith.

An overarching claim of the book is that the women discussed in its pages are significant not only for their proximity to famous men but as genuine contributors to the contours of early Christianity and the course that it took. The claim is substantiated through chapters that explore surviving sources about particular women and discuss their role as figures of theological import and authority. These explorations will challenge many readers to broaden their conceptualizations of early Christian theology so that martyrdom, exemplary asceticism, wise interlocution, and sponsorship of theological causes come alongside commonly recognized forms of theological work like composing treatises or participating in ecumenical councils. Understandings of authority are similarly challenged by discussions of the social and imperial power that many ancient women wielded and the various forms of agency any woman might exercise. In the introduction, Cohick and Hughes present their approach toward male authors’ writings on women as an approach that steers between some scholars’ tendencies to depict authors’ attitudes as purely laudable or merely misogynistic, expecting instead to find complex engagement: citing the phrase “men use women to ‘think with,’” they write, “This is certainly true, but perhaps not the whole truth” (xx).

The figures chosen for chapters comprise a diverse list. Chapter 1 concerns the story and study of Thecla. Chapter 2 offers a lengthy analysis of the martyrdom account of Perpetua and Felicitas; this chapter becomes repetitive at times but provides welcome reflections on the familial and communal relationships within and behind the text. Chapter 3 introduces challenging issues in the study of female figures within catacomb art at Rome. A fourth chapter draws on Eusebius and Methodius to consider the transition from Christian experiences of imperial persecution to fourth-century forms of Christian tradition that treasure past martyrs and idealize ascetic commitments. Chapters 5 and 6 each focus on individual, historical women associated with pilgrimage, the empress Helena and the traveler Egeria, whose journeys and possible goals illustrate further changes taking place in the fourth century. Two women who influenced famous men, Macrina and Monica, are paired in chapter 7 as relatives remembered for their participation in philosophical dialogue as well as their pious devotion. Cohick and Hughes give due attention to the problem of our limited access to these two women through their representation and commemoration by Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine, though in these later chapters the authors sometimes seem a bit too trusting of our surviving sources. Chapter 8 considers aristocrats who became ascetics and made intellectual as well as financial contributions in ongoing theological controversies and the establishment of monasteries: Paula, Marcella, Melania the Elder, and Melania the Younger. Two fifth-century empresses, Pulcheria and Eudocia, feature in chapter 9 as sharply contrasting models of Christian imperial life. A brief conclusion on “responsibly remembering” (253–259) hearkens back to the explanation given in the introduction of the authors’ advocacy approach to studying women of antiquity (xxiv–xxvi).

The book's limitations result in certain pedagogical advantages. As the list above suggests, Greek and Latin sources (and occasionally images) form the basis of the book; sources in other languages appear only through studies that summarize them, such as Catherine Burrus's work on Thecla in Syriac texts (23–24). While “East and West” is bridged by some figures (189–190), the patristic world remains the world of much earlier scholarship, circumscribed by imperial boundaries and subscription to the regula fidei (see xxviii–xxxvi). This limited scope, however, allows for in-depth treatment and quotation of primary texts and the interweaving of women's stories across centuries as part of a shared legacy, as later figures sometimes consciously imitated earlier ones. Strewn throughout are short sections that orient readers by describing context or major historical developments. It is sometimes difficult to recall how much orientation appeared in preceding chapters or to discern the reasons for a smaller or larger amount of background to appear where it does, but the distribution enables readers who are new to the field to pace themselves in building a picture of the worlds the women inhabited. While there are occasional lapses in editorial or explanatory care, the shortcomings are outweighed by the value of the engaging summaries and portraits across the book.

The authors attend to women's contributions not only in the ancient past, but in recent scholarship. Many sections of the book ground the story of a figure or discussion of an issue within a particular scholar's work or a group of divergent publications, selecting works from across diverse subfields or pockets within early Christian studies. These include a large number of doctoral dissertations that cursory searches may fail to uncover, and in several cases, this brings heightened visibility to the ongoing work of women scholars.

Finally, the book is pedagogical in the sense that it seems intended to prompt growth in religious faith through intellectual study. As one may expect with this press, the authors put no constraints on intended readership but anticipate that readers will share a personal investment in (Protestant forms of) the Christian tradition and will find the figures inspiring. This quality makes the book especially well-suited to church-affiliated colleges and seminaries. Its aims will be most fully realized when students contemplate the figures found in its pages and develop a broader, deeper, and more appreciative picture of ancient Christian history in response.