Absolutely fascinating. Jenkins explains that (despite the conviction of most Christians), Jesus and Paul of Tarsus are not reflective of the Hebrew religion of what they call the ‘Old Testament’. But, he adds, neither is rabbinic Judaism as known today. In fact, both of these modern religions, as well as Islam and numerous sects that have disappeared over time, grow out of the political and philosophical turmoil of what he calls the ‘Crucible’ years. Many of the Christian doctrines now seen as reasons for that faith’s breakaway from Judaism were doctrines held by most Jews at the start of the Common Era; rabbinic Judaism in the end rejected these doctrines specifically because of their embrace by Christians. Jenkins analyses a variety of both canonical and non-canonical writings to illustrate the preoccupations of people living in Greek and Roman Judaea during the final two and a half centuries BCE, and how these preoccupations produced both rabbinic Judaism and Christianity.