"The author has chosen a useful way in which to present the sociologist's craft to the reader. Zeroing in on a particular set of circumstances keeps the book from becoming a dull, theoretical account, and Fenn adds to the appeal of the book by making a number of observations about NT passages that parallel or exemplify what he finds in Josephus's reports....it is instructive to see what happens when a familiar text is viewed through eyes that are trained to see phenomena differently than a traditional historian might." James Vanderkam, Critical review

• 1. Two methodological viewpoints: the priestly and the prophetic; 2. Description, interpretation, and explanation: modes of analysis; 3. Levels of observation and of analysis: making the right choices; 4. 'What is going on here?' The role of the observer and the beginnings of theory; 5. The search for useful concepts: evil and charisma; 6. The making of a theory.

"The author has chosen a useful way in which to present the sociologist's craft to the reader. Zeroing in on a particular set of circumstances keeps the book from becoming a dull, theoretical account, and Fenn adds to the appeal of the book by making a number of observations about NT passages that parallel or exemplify what he finds in Josephus's reports....it is instructive to see what happens when a familiar text is viewed through eyes that are trained to see phenomena differently than a traditional historian might." James Vanderkam, Critical review

• 1. Two methodological viewpoints: the priestly and the prophetic; 2. Description, interpretation, and explanation: modes of analysis; 3. Levels of observation and of analysis: making the right choices; 4. 'What is going on here?' The role of the observer and the beginnings of theory; 5. The search for useful concepts: evil and charisma; 6. The making of a theory.

"The author has chosen a useful way in which to present the sociologist's craft to the reader. Zeroing in on a particular set of circumstances keeps the book from becoming a dull, theoretical account, and Fenn adds to the appeal of the book by making a number of observations about NT passages that parallel or exemplify what he finds in Josephus's reports....it is instructive to see what happens when a familiar text is viewed through eyes that are trained to see phenomena differently than a traditional historian might." James Vanderkam, Critical review

• 1. Two methodological viewpoints: the priestly and the prophetic; 2. Description, interpretation, and explanation: modes of analysis; 3. Levels of observation and of analysis: making the right choices; 4. 'What is going on here?' The role of the observer and the beginnings of theory; 5. The search for useful concepts: evil and charisma; 6. The making of a theory.