The occasion of Rainer Riesner's 65th birthday brought together many of his students and colleagues to discuss the Jewish contours of the messianic ministry of Jesus of Nazareth and the apostolic ministry of Paul of Tarsus. The contributions in this compendium consider in the main issues of continuity or discontinuity between Judaism and Christianity as they are reflected in New Testament texts concerning Jesus and Paul as well as in Paul's writings. The question concerning the Jewish roots of early Christianity has at least three sides to it which all receive attention in this volume: the influence of the Scriptures of Israel on the ministries of Jesus and Paul, their relationship to early Judaism, and the links between Paul's theology on the one hand and the teaching of Jesus and the synoptic tradition on the other.