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Vines Intertwined: A History of Jews and Christians from the Babylonian Exile to the Advent of Islam. By Leo Duprée Sandgren. (Peabody, MA: Hendrikson Publishers. 2010. Pp. xxvi, 838. $34.95 paperback. ISBN 978-1598-56083-1.)
Over the last two generations there has been a revolution in the understanding of the relation between Christianity and Judaism in the ancient world. Sixty years ago, the study of early Christian history was carried on almost wholly without reference to the Jews. Scholars showed great interest in the Judaism that existed prior to the beginning of Christianity, but once the Church was established, the Jews were all but forgotten. Christian scholars learned biblical Hebrew, but saw no need to master the language of the rabbis or to study the Jewish communities that existed alongside of Christians in the great cities of the Middle East.
Although it was well known that early...