The twelve articles in this book (five of them by editor Jacob Neusner) explore the background developments and motivating forces for what Neusner calls the "re-invention" of history in the fourth and fifth centuries CE. The Christianization of the Roman empire under Constantine is seen as the impetus for reexamination within both Christianity and Judaism of their historical foundations. History then became a "mode of religious-theological discourse" for the
respective communities of faith. The other contributors to the volume are: Burton Mack, Glenn Chestnut, Arnaldo Momigliano, Nahum Glatzer, and William Scott Green.