Description: The papers in this volume are organized around the ambition to reboot the writing of history about Jews and Christians in the first two centuries CE. There are three focal points: (1) the varieties of Jewish and Christian expression in late Second Temple times, (2) the socio-economic, military, and ideological processes during the period of the revolts, and (3) the post-revolt Jewish and Christian identities that emerged. As such, the volume is part of a larger project that is to result in a source book and a history of Jews and Christians in the first and second centuries.
Review Quotes: "It is impossible to do justice to the scope and depth of these essays. Most of the contributors have already published on the topics they address here, but their essays have a cumulative effect. Anyone under the illusion of understanding how Judaism and Christianity came to separate, or what indeed both of these were, exactly, is recommended to read it." - Philip R Davies, University of Sheffield, in: RBL 07/2016
"(...) overall this is a richly documented account that weaves into the cast of these two main groups several others--such as the Essenes, Romans, Sicarii, Zealots--to form a layered history of connected, sometimes shared, experiences (...) for those interested in the historiography of this period, this study is essential reading." - Brian J. Wright, Ridley College, in: Themelios 41/1 (2016)
"(...) an abiding impression is of the unusually high calibre of virtually all indivitual contributions, and of the cumulative force of an argument corroborating for this period a continued close contact and interaction of 'ways not parted', between Jews and Christians inhabiting a shared cutlural, social and religious space of discourse. The editors and contributors deserve our gratitude." - Markus Bockmuehl, Keble College, Oxford, in: Journal of Jewish Studies 57/1 (2016)