Pious Jews of the Second Temple period sought to conform their lives to Torah, the law God had given Israel. Their different sects disagreed, however, on how to interpret particular laws and even on the question of who had the authority to interpret them. 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.

Born 1949; 1972 BA, English Language and Literature; 1974 MA, Near Eastern Studies; 1978 ThD, New Testament Exegesis; 1984-2017 Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, McMaster University; currently Professor Emeritus of Early Christianity, McMaster University.