Types of Authority in Formative Christianity and Judaism

Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Research Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida and Professor of Religion at Bard College, New York. Bruce Chiltern is Bernard Idding Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College, New York.

• Preface. Introduction. Part One: Institutional Authority. 1. Theoretical Hierarchy: The Institutional Politics of Rabbinic Judaism 2. Apostles and Bishops: A Polarity of Power in Earliest Christianity Part Two: Charismatic Authority. 3. What Ended With Prophecy, and What Happened Then in Rabbinic Judaism 4. Charismata of Guidance in Primitive and Early Christianity Part Three: Scriptural Authority. 5. The Commanding Voice of Scripture in Rabbinic Judaism 6. The Conciliar Voice of Scripture in Christianity Index.

'The book is full of detail and stimulating judgement (and very clearly written). It not only juxtaposes ... two modes of thought, but also highlights the tensions within each community that accompanied their definitions of authority. It does so in an additionally useful way, by reversing some customary perspectives, placing in the foregorund ... what too often lurks in the shadow of historical study.' - Philip Rousseau, Heythrop Journal