The People of the Book: Drama, Fellowship, and Religion Book

The second book in this series of outstanding books with a poignant back story associated with them is PAUL AND PALESTINIAN JUDAISM by E. P. Sanders.

A breakthrough book on the subject, it is dedicated “In memory of Susan Phillips, July 2 1947 – September 26 1975.

PAUL AND PALESTINIAN JUDAISM was so important because it was really the first major work to get both Christian and Jewish scholars focused on the deep and complex links between first century Judaism and the first century heresy of Judaism which became known as Christianity. Much New Testament scholarship by English but especially German scholars who were fluent in Greek (the so-called "High Criticsm" of the late 19th century) emphasised the radical differences between first century Judaism and Pauline theology. This emphasis both co-existed and fed a wider, diffuse, and intellectually groundless anti-Semitism, to which it seemed to lend a certain legitimacy.

By drawing attention to the many similarities between first century Judaism and the Jewish movement which became known as Christianity, Sanders began a healing process which for the last generation has led to a growing movement of scholarship, by both Christian and Jewish scholars, which has gone a long way to bridge tragic old misunderstandings.

The last paragraph of the Preface expands as follows: “The principal burden of preparing the manuscript for the press was carried by Susan Phillips. Between 1969 and late 1975 she helped organise and carry out my administrative duties so that I would have time for research and writing, typed almost countless drafts of various parts of the manuscript, conformed the footnote and manuscript style to the requirements of the press, checked the English language quotations in Chapter I and Chapter III, and finally prepared, in the first twenty days of September, 1975, an almost flawless typescript of some 1,100 pages. For these things alone I would have recorded my warmest admiration, respect and gratitude. But, when she died, we had been looking forward to a long and happy life together; this book is offered as a memorial to her and that hope.”