Receptions of Paul during the First Two Centuries: Exploration of the Jewish Matrix of Early Christianity examines the historical context of Paul and the way Paul's Jewish heritage was received. Contributors take into consideration the aftermath of the Jewish War and its impact on the development of the Jesus movement and early Christian-Jewish relations in the following period. The chapters come to the conclusion that after the Jewish War, the reception of the authentic Paul was transformed more and more into the tradition about Paul, based and established by the second and third generations of Jesus-believing Gentiles, which perceived Paul as a convert from what is labeled "Judaism" ( ) to the complete opposite of it, "Christianity" ( ).

Frantisek Abel is professor of New Testament at the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Anyone researching Paul and his early reception will appreciate the variety of approaches and depth of scholarship undertaken in these essays by leading international New Testament scholars. Thank you Professor A bel and contributors for yet again advancing new, innovative developments in the field of "within Judaism" and related Pauline studies.