To understand Jesus of Nazareth, it is essential to read writings from the four-century gap between the Old and New Testaments. Matthias Henze introduces this period and its writings, discusses how they have been read over history, guides the students encounter with select texts, then introduces key ideas in New Testament texts that cant be understood without these intertestamental writingsthe Messiah, angels and demons, the law, and the resurrection of the dead. Mind the Gap broadens students perspectives on early Judaism and Christianity and welcomes them to deeper study.

Matthias Henze is Isla Carroll and Perry E. Turner Professor of Hebrew Bible and early Judaism and founding director of the program in Jewish studies at Rice University. He has written or edited books on biblical interpretation at Qumran and early Judaism and on various early Jewish writings, including the coauthored 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch: Translations, Introductions, and Notes (Fortress Press, 2013).