Patricia Cox Miller is the Bishop W. Earl Ledden Professor of Religion Emerita at Syracuse University. She is author of five books, including The Corporeal Imagination: Signifying the Holy in Late Ancient Christianity, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

"Miller powerfully demonstrates the usefulness of animal studies as a lens for ancient and late ancient discourse about animals, and presses at the edges of conventional analysis, arguing for the usefulness of early Christian texts in contemporary constructive philosophical work regarding the status of animals, and for the relevance of contemporary zoological writings in contextualizing and analyzing early Christian texts. The result is a thoughtful and provocative book." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review) "Miller's book is an important contribution to the field of Christian late antiquity from the perspective of (human-)animal studies, as it provides a panorama of relevant texts which also comprises 'bizarre' and amusing examples . . . What is more, she makes the world of early Christianity accessible for those who are not specialists in Patristics." (Philosophy, Theology and the Sciences) "Through incandescent prose and close readings, this monograph charts new pathways for exploring the archive of Christian literature . . . In the Eye of the Animal trains us to see anew the breadth of early Christian literature in all its diversity and pulsing liveliness." (Theological Studies Journal)

• IntroductionChapter 1. Animals and Figuration: The Case of BirdsChapter 2. The Pensivity of Animals, I: ZoomorphismChapter 3. The Pensivity of Animals, II: AnthropomorphismChapter 4. Wild Animals: Desert Ascetics and Their CompanionsChapter 5. Small Things: The Vibrant Materiality of Tiny CreaturesAfterwordAppendix: Ancient Christian and Other AuthorsNotesBibliographyIndexAcknowledgment

Patricia Cox Miller is the Bishop W. Earl Ledden Professor of Religion Emerita at Syracuse University. She is author of five books, including The Corporeal Imagination: Signifying the Holy in Late Ancient Christianity, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

"Miller powerfully demonstrates the usefulness of animal studies as a lens for ancient and late ancient discourse about animals, and presses at the edges of conventional analysis, arguing for the usefulness of early Christian texts in contemporary constructive philosophical work regarding the status of animals, and for the relevance of contemporary zoological writings in contextualizing and analyzing early Christian texts. The result is a thoughtful and provocative book." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review) "Miller's book is an important contribution to the field of Christian late antiquity from the perspective of (human-)animal studies, as it provides a panorama of relevant texts which also comprises 'bizarre' and amusing examples . . . What is more, she makes the world of early Christianity accessible for those who are not specialists in Patristics." (Philosophy, Theology and the Sciences) "Through incandescent prose and close readings, this monograph charts new pathways for exploring the archive of Christian literature . . . In the Eye of the Animal trains us to see anew the breadth of early Christian literature in all its diversity and pulsing liveliness." (Theological Studies Journal)

• IntroductionChapter 1. Animals and Figuration: The Case of BirdsChapter 2. The Pensivity of Animals, I: ZoomorphismChapter 3. The Pensivity of Animals, II: AnthropomorphismChapter 4. Wild Animals: Desert Ascetics and Their CompanionsChapter 5. Small Things: The Vibrant Materiality of Tiny CreaturesAfterwordAppendix: Ancient Christian and Other AuthorsNotesBibliographyIndexAcknowledgment

Patricia Cox Miller is the Bishop W. Earl Ledden Professor of Religion Emerita at Syracuse University. She is author of five books, including The Corporeal Imagination: Signifying the Holy in Late Ancient Christianity, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

"Miller powerfully demonstrates the usefulness of animal studies as a lens for ancient and late ancient discourse about animals, and presses at the edges of conventional analysis, arguing for the usefulness of early Christian texts in contemporary constructive philosophical work regarding the status of animals, and for the relevance of contemporary zoological writings in contextualizing and analyzing early Christian texts. The result is a thoughtful and provocative book." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review) "Miller's book is an important contribution to the field of Christian late antiquity from the perspective of (human-)animal studies, as it provides a panorama of relevant texts which also comprises 'bizarre' and amusing examples . . . What is more, she makes the world of early Christianity accessible for those who are not specialists in Patristics." (Philosophy, Theology and the Sciences) "Through incandescent prose and close readings, this monograph charts new pathways for exploring the archive of Christian literature . . . In the Eye of the Animal trains us to see anew the breadth of early Christian literature in all its diversity and pulsing liveliness." (Theological Studies Journal)

• IntroductionChapter 1. Animals and Figuration: The Case of BirdsChapter 2. The Pensivity of Animals, I: ZoomorphismChapter 3. The Pensivity of Animals, II: AnthropomorphismChapter 4. Wild Animals: Desert Ascetics and Their CompanionsChapter 5. Small Things: The Vibrant Materiality of Tiny CreaturesAfterwordAppendix: Ancient Christian and Other AuthorsNotesBibliographyIndexAcknowledgment