Law and Ethics in Early Judaism and the New Testament

About this book

Pious Jews of the Second Temple period sought to conform their lives to Torah, the law God had given Israel, though different sects among them interpreted that law, and assigned competence in its interpretation, differently. Jesus and his earliest followers, while focusing primarily on what they believed God was doing in their own day, were repeatedly confronted with issues raised by its relation to God's prior revelation in Torah. This volume contains studies by Stephen Westerholm devoted to the meaning and place of Torah in Early Judaism as well as to New Testament understandings, particularly those of the Gospels and Pauline literature. Attention is also given to the "new Perspective on Paul," to recent discussions of justification and Paul's relation to Judaism, and to aspects of the transmission of Jesus tradition among his earliest followers.