For the student of Jewish history, the topic of this book bears upon the very foundations of Jewish experience in Mediterranean and Western societies during the last two thousand years. Essay contributions from David Flusser, Wayne A. Meeks, S.G.F. Brandon, Marcel Simon, Rosemary Radford Ruether, B. Blumenkranz, Solomon Grayzel, H. Liebeschutz, Lester K. Little, Cecil Roth, Jeremy Cohen, Mark U. Edwards, Jr., Salo W. Baron, Kenneth R. Stow, Lawrence H. Schiffman, Jacob Katz, Ivan G. Marcus, David Berger, and David B. Ruderman.