Hypatia — or New Foes with an Old Face

"Hypatia — or New Foes with an Old Face" by Charles Kingsley is a story that transports readers to the 5th century, where old pagan beliefs and new Christian faith face off. It tells the tale of Hypatia, a well-known philosopher and mathematician in Alexandria, as she lives through big social changes, religious fights, and a world stuck between what it used to believe and what's coming next. The book kicks off by showing how complicated things were back then, with lots of tough choices and different ideas about the world. A young monk named Philammon is introduced; he's looking for fuel in the desert and finds an old temple that makes him curious. His inner battle shows the bigger problems of the time as he tries to figure out the appeal of learning new things while sticking to his religious rules, leading him to Hypatia's world in Alexandria.