Throughout Christian history, the works of Josephus have been mined for the light they shed on the world of the New Testament. This collection of essays focuses on threads in the first-century Jewish historian and apologist's works that are of particular interest to those studying Christianity.

This Festschrift in honour of Richard N. Longenecker (author of Paul, Apostle of Liberty, The Christology of Early Jewish Christianity, The Ministry and Message of Paul, Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period, 'The Acts of the Apostles' in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, New Testament Social Ethics for Today, and Galatians, Word Biblical Commentary) is centered on the theme of 'gospel' in Paul. Notable Pauline scholars discuss 'gospel' from five different perspectives: the historical, the theological, the hermeneutical, the rhetorical and the epistolary; each author discusses one of these five perspectives within one part of Paul's correspondence: (1) Gospel in Romans (2) Gospel in Galatians and (3) Gospel in the Corinthian letters. The volume promotes discussion both on methods of reading Paul's letters and on important historical, theological and hermenutical issues.

While the task of exegesis after Auschwitz has been to expose the anti-Judaism inherent in the Christian tradition, the founding of the Jewish state has also helped show the continuation of the covenant between God and Israel. For Lloyd Gaston the living reality of Judaism makes possible a better understanding of Paul's prophetic call as Apostle to the Gentiles. In Paul and the Torah, Gaston argues that the terms of Paul's mission must be taken seriously and that it is totally inappropriate to regard his conversion as a transition from one religion to another. Paul's congregations were not made up of Christian Jews: they were exclusively Gentile. He therefore focused on God's promises to Abraham concerning Gentiles which were fulfilled in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. The inclusion of Gentiles in the elect people of God through their incorporation into Christ thus does not mean a displacement of Israel. Nowhere does Paul speak of the rejection of Israel as God's chosen people, of the Sinai covenant as no longer in effect for Israel, or of the church as the new and true Israel. He also says nothing against the Jewish understanding of Torah as it applies to Israel when he speaks of law in reference to Gentiles. But for those outside the covenant God made with Israel, the law acted in an oppressive and condemning way, and Gentiles needed liberation from it. Paradoxically, Paul finds the gospel of this liberation to be proclaimed already in Torah in the sense of Scripture.

Compares the work of the evangelists to the development of biography in the Graeco-Roman world

This work sketches the many portraits of the Pharisees that emerge from ancient sources. Based upon the Gospels, the writings of Paul, Josephus, the Mishnah, the Tosefta, and archeology, the volume profiles the Pharisees and explores the relationship between the Pharisees and the Judaic religious system foreshadowed by the library of Qumran. A great virtue of this study is that no attempt is made to homogenize the distinct pictures or reconstruct a singular account of the Pharisees; instead, by carefully considering the sources, the chapters allow different pictures of the Pharisees to stand side by side.