the lame, the blind, and the leprous, but also to those who are excluded because of arbitrary boundaries and stereotypes. Both Matthew and Luke interweave into this material miracle and controversy stories with dynamic intertextuality with Moses, Elijah, and Elisha stories they have gotten from Mark and elsewhere. Still the story of David does not play a strong role in all of this material. Rather, the crucifixion story and Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem provide the context for inviting the story of David decisively into the story of Jesus by means of Psalms attributed to David. Then, both Matthew and Luke create a context for Jesus' birth in the Davidic city of Bethlehem and present genealogies through Joseph to David. By this means, both the city of Jesus' death and the city of Jesus' birth acquire rich intertextuality with the story of David, who provides a thick heritage for presentation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel. In contrast to all of this, the Epistle of James has its major intertextuality with the story of Abraham (Robbins 1996c). Analysis and interpretation that exhibit the inner nature of the intertextual growth and emergence of NT literature could be a major step forward in NT interpretation. With this kind of insight, we could gain a new perception of the manner in which early Christians wove together the inner fabric of Christian story, Christian wisdom, Christian argumentation, and Christian theology.

Second, this volume teaches us the importance of analysis and interpretation of overall socio-cultural shifts as a context for textual interpretation. Jonathan Z. Smith and Peter Brown have called our attention to the overall shift from holy place to holy person during late antiquity. Judith Perkins has made a strong case for an overall shift from a traditional classical approach to inner self-discipline in a context of traditional community institutions to inner virtue dependent on an outside deity in a context of communities that challenge the values of traditional institutions. If we build further on these insights, it will be possible for interpretation of NT and early Christian literature to begin to takes its rightful place in broader discussions in the humanities and social sciences, and in environments where careful, systematic analysis and interpretation is being made of the literature, rituals, and practices of religions throughout the world. Many thanks to the writers of the essays in this volume.