Essays on Halakhah in the New Testament

These essays explore the Jewish background to central issues in the New Testament —letter and spirit, prophecy and law, forgiveness, the accounts of Jesus’ “trial(s)”, evidence required for legal/theological claims, the shepherding images, disinheritance, and teachings on marriage and divorce. The texts of the New Testament have long been understood to require interpretation in the light of the Hebrew Bible, Qumran and other postbiblical literary and documentary sources. Conversely, they provide an invaluable source for the reconstruction of halakhah in the late Second Commonwealth period. These essays illustrate the complexity of the inter-relationships, and the methodological issues which arise: the “legal” content of the texts cannot be separated from the intertextualities of Jewish theology. The topics cover letter and spirit, prophecy and law, forgiveness, the accounts of Jesus’ “trial(s)”, the evidence required for legal and theological claims, shepherding images, disinheritance (the prodigal son), marriage and divorce.