The More Torah, the More Life: A Christian Commentary on Mishnah Avot

Marc Zvi Brettler and Amy-Jill Levine s The Jewish Annotated New Testament (first published in 2011) has pride of place in this regard. Drawing the (presumably Christian) reader into Rabbinic discourse, he explains the degree to which decisions about halakha (Rabbinic law) stand at the core of the Rabbis project and how Rabbis develop their own body of law as a bulwark against violating biblical commandments. The Christian Resonances section which follows continues in this vein, presenting both similarities (e.g., a focus on a chain of tradition) and differences (e.g., the notion that Gentile Christians need not follow all the Torah's prohibitions and commands) with apostolic Christianity.