Jesus and the Law in the Synoptic Tradition

This monograph deals with a major problem of New Testament exegetical and related studies - the attitude of Jesus to the Mosaic Law. While much has been written on the subject, a fresh approach in the light of the insights of, for instance, redaction-criticism and our increased knowledge of attitudes to the Law in Inter-testamental Judaism has become overdue. Dr Banks' book is concerned centrally with a detailed exegesis of the texts in the first three Gospels relevant to the ethical teaching and practice of Jesus as it related to Jewish Law. This examination is preceded by an account of the changing attitudes to the Law to be found in the Old Testament, in the Intertestamental Writings and among the Jewish schools contemporary with Jesus himself. The author concludes that Jesus' attitude to the Law was unique and dictated largely by his own sense of mission. Dr Banks sets his study within the general framework of recent scholarly writings on the one hand and the 'New Morality' debate on the other.