Chapter 2 is a thoroughly reworked and expanded version of the study previously published as Chapter 4 (“Who Was Unhappy with the Davidic Messiah”) in S. Ruzer. 2007. Mapping the New Testament: Early Christian Writings as a Witness for Jewish Biblical Exegesis. Leiden: Brill.
Chapter 3 is a revised version of S. Ruzer. 2015. “Mark 1:1: ‘The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ’ – In Search of the Jewish Literary Backdrop to Mark 1:1–11: Between The Rule of the Community and Rabbinic Sources,” in R.S. Notley and J.P. García (eds.), The Gospels in First-Century Judaea. Leiden: Brill.
Chapter 4 is a revised version of S. Ruzer. 2007. “Son of God as Son of David: Luke’s Attempt to Biblicize a Problematic Notion,” in L. Kogan, N. Koslova, S. Loesov and S. Tishchenko (eds.), Bibel und Babel 3. Vinona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
Chapter 9 is based on the study previously published as Chapter 7 (“Crucifixion: The Search for a Meaning vis-à-vis Biblical Prophecy. From Luke to Acts”) in S. Ruzer. 2007. Mapping the New Testament: Early Christian Writings as a Witness for Jewish Biblical Exegesis. Leiden: Brill.
The earlier version of Chapter 10 appeared as S. Ruzer. 2016. “Eschatological Failure as God’s Mystery: Reassessing Prophecy and Reality at Qumran and in Nascent Christianity,” in Dead Sea Discoveries 23.