Chapter 7 argues for an important role in public reading of the Gospels in the developing attempts to define “Christians” and “Jews” in reference to each other, and thus argues that liturgy and ritual deserves as much attention as theology. The chapter here argues for the contribution of liturgy and ritual to scholarly understandings of the “parting of the ways” and “ways that never parted.” This chapter concentrates upon the public reading of the prophets of Jewish Scripture and the Gospels alongside each other, asking what such a reading practice would have contributed aesthetically to the early Christ assembly. From this position, the chapter also considers the early Christian adoption of the codex book form.
