The Original Assamese Novel, Xeuji Pator Kahini, Of Which This Is The English Translation, Was First Published In 1954. Set In Pre-Independence Assam, The Story Juxtaposes The Morally Oppressive Life In A Typical Assamese Village And The Life Of The Tea Garden Workers, Which, Even If Marvelously Free From The Moral Pretensions Of A Small Village Community, Is Harsh And Unrelenting. Nareswar, The Outsider From The Village, Finds ýMeaningý In The Free Fun Loving Ways Of The Coolie: And The Mercurial Sonia, Illegitimate Daughter Of A White Manager And A Young Coolie Girl, Is The Unfailing Critical Eye Which Sees Through All Human Deceptions. This Is The Story Of Love Between Nareswar And Sonia Woven Into The Extraordinarily Rich Texture Of Life In A Tea Garden.

The present volume is based on a conference held in October 2019 at the Faculty of Theology of Humboldt University Berlin as part of a common project of the Australian Catholic University, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Humboldt University Berlin. The aim is to discuss the relationships of “Jews” and “Christians” in the first two centuries CE against the background of recent debates which have called into question the image of “parting ways” for a description of the relationships of Judaism and Christianity in antiquity. One objection raised against this metaphor is that it accentuates differences at the expense of commonalities. Another critique is that this image looks from a later perspective at historical developments which can hardly be grasped with such a metaphor. It is more likely that distinctions between Jews, Christians, Jewish Christians, Christian Jews etc. are more blurred than the image of “parting ways” allows. In light of these considerations the contributions in this volume discuss the cogency of the “parting of the ways”-model with a look at prominent early Christian writers and places and suggest more appropriate metaphors to describe the relationships of Jews and Christians in the early period.