by Isaac Wilk Oliver (Author)
In Torah Praxis after 70 CE, Oliver challenges conventional views of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke as well as the Acts of the Apostles. He reads the works not only against their Jewish "background" but also as early Jewish literature. In doing so, he questions the traditional classification of Luke-Acts as a "Greek" or Gentile-Christian text. To support his assertions, Dr. Oliver's literary-historical investigation explores the question of Torah praxis in each book, citing evidence that suggests several ritual Jewish practices remained fixtures in the Jesus movement and that Jewish followers of Jesus played key roles in forming the ekklesia well into the first century CE.
Author Biography
Isaac W. Oliver is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Bradley University. His research focuses on early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He is the author of Luke's Jewish Eschatology: The National Restoration of Israel in Luke-Acts (Oxford University Press, 2021) and co-editor of several volumes including The Early Reception of Paul the Second Temple Jew (Bloomsbury, 2018) and The Study of Islamic Origins (de Gruyter, 2021). Currently, Oliver is writing a commentary on the Gospel of Luke for the Oxford Bible Commentary Series.