Benjamin Button and the Shepherd of Hermas

We all know the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the story of the man born with the physical appearance of a 70-year-old who, aging backwards, gets ever younger. We know it either from Scott Fitzgerald's original story or the 2008 film loosely based on the former, starring Brad Pitt and Kate Blanchett. Some of us may also know Mircea Eliade's 1976 novel…