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Allison extends his earlier Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet with a series of essays displaying a distinctive combination of erudition, common sense and gentle wit. One particularly welcome section is the discussion of polemic and apologetics in historical reconstruction, which features an autobiographical account of Allison’s own vocation and scholarly commitments.

This book takes us back to the house church meetings of early Christians, meetings that “must have been noisy and bustling,” with women nursing babies, children underfoot, even toys on the floor. Like other contemporary scholars, Margaret MacDonald, Carolyn Osiek and Janet Tulloch are seeing women in ancient texts where they had not been seen before.