James G. Crossley is Lecturer in New Testament studies in the Department of Biblical Studies at University of Sheffield, UK. He is the author of Jesus in an Age of Terror: Scholarly Projects for a New American Century (London: Equinox, forthcoming 2008/9); Why Christianity Happened: A Sociohistorical Account of Christian Origins 26-50CE (Louisville: WJK, 2006); The Date of Mark's Gospel: Insight from the Law in Earliest Christianity (London: T&T Clark/Continuum, 2004) and co-author, with M. F. Bird, of Two Views of Christian Origins: A Secular-Evangelical Debate London: SPCK, forthcoming 2008). He is co-edited (with Christian Karner) Writing History, Constructing Religion (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005).

Clear, well documented, and fair, Crossley's study not only demonstrates what the Jewish sources say about such matters as Sabbath observance, purity, and relations with Gentiles, it also corrects often-repeated stereotypes that still infect Christian teaching and preaching.

• 1: Jewish Law according to New Testament Scholarship (see above); 2: Origins and Sources of Jewish Law: from the Bible to the Rabbis (see above); 3: Sabbath; 4: Food, Purity and Tithing; 5: Divorce; 6: 'Antitheses'? Eye for an Eye and Oaths; 7: Family; 8: Ethnicity.

James G. Crossley is Lecturer in New Testament studies in the Department of Biblical Studies at University of Sheffield, UK. He is the author of Jesus in an Age of Terror: Scholarly Projects for a New American Century (London: Equinox, forthcoming 2008/9); Why Christianity Happened: A Sociohistorical Account of Christian Origins 26-50CE (Louisville: WJK, 2006); The Date of Mark's Gospel: Insight from the Law in Earliest Christianity (London: T&T Clark/Continuum, 2004) and co-author, with M. F. Bird, of Two Views of Christian Origins: A Secular-Evangelical Debate London: SPCK, forthcoming 2008). He is co-edited (with Christian Karner) Writing History, Constructing Religion (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005).

Clear, well documented, and fair, Crossley's study not only demonstrates what the Jewish sources say about such matters as Sabbath observance, purity, and relations with Gentiles, it also corrects often-repeated stereotypes that still infect Christian teaching and preaching.

• 1: Jewish Law according to New Testament Scholarship (see above); 2: Origins and Sources of Jewish Law: from the Bible to the Rabbis (see above); 3: Sabbath; 4: Food, Purity and Tithing; 5: Divorce; 6: 'Antitheses'? Eye for an Eye and Oaths; 7: Family; 8: Ethnicity.

James G. Crossley is Lecturer in New Testament studies in the Department of Biblical Studies at University of Sheffield, UK. He is the author of Jesus in an Age of Terror: Scholarly Projects for a New American Century (London: Equinox, forthcoming 2008/9); Why Christianity Happened: A Sociohistorical Account of Christian Origins 26-50CE (Louisville: WJK, 2006); The Date of Mark's Gospel: Insight from the Law in Earliest Christianity (London: T&T Clark/Continuum, 2004) and co-author, with M. F. Bird, of Two Views of Christian Origins: A Secular-Evangelical Debate London: SPCK, forthcoming 2008). He is co-edited (with Christian Karner) Writing History, Constructing Religion (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005).

Clear, well documented, and fair, Crossley's study not only demonstrates what the Jewish sources say about such matters as Sabbath observance, purity, and relations with Gentiles, it also corrects often-repeated stereotypes that still infect Christian teaching and preaching.

• 1: Jewish Law according to New Testament Scholarship (see above); 2: Origins and Sources of Jewish Law: from the Bible to the Rabbis (see above); 3: Sabbath; 4: Food, Purity and Tithing; 5: Divorce; 6: 'Antitheses'? Eye for an Eye and Oaths; 7: Family; 8: Ethnicity.