The Gospel according to Luke uniquely details an exchange between Christ and one of the thieves crucified with Him: "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise" (Lk 23.42–43). This book gathers seventeen late antique and early medieval sermons centered upon the "good thief," who figured prominently in celebrations of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Pascha. This compendium is a theological and rhetorical treasury, with contributions from early Christianity's most talented preachers in Greek and Latin, including John Chrysostom, Severian of Gabala, Proclus of Constantinople, Maximus of Turin, Fulgentius of Ruspe, Caesarius of Arles, and others. Many of these sermons appear in English for the first time.
Mark G. Bilby (Ph.D., University of Virginia) is an expert on St Dismas, the proverbial "Good Thief." His doctoral dissertation, As the Bandit Will I Confess You (published by Strasbourg/Brepols), and other scholarly works are devoted to this theme, including translations of three medieval stories of St Dismas in each volume of More New Testament Apocrypha (Eerdmans) and a Greek critical edition of a Byzantine apocryphon in Le Muséon (Peeters).
