Types of Authority in Formative Christianity and Judaism

Bruce Chilton and Jacob Neusner study the points of comparisons and contrast between formative Christianity and Judaism. They identify three categories of authority and compare and contrast these shared categories of authority in the two religious worlds to analyze the bases in both intellectual and institutional theory to compel someone to do or refrain from doing a given action. The arguments are introduced by a general discussion of the founding figures of the two religions, Moses and Jesus, and how their inherent authority distilled itself through the structure of their religious institutions and intellectual thoughts.