Book excerpt: What lies between the authoritative preeminence of the Mother Church of Jerusalem and the virtual extinction both of its life and apparently of all its local records? Dr. Brandon finds that the full significance of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 has been strangely neglected amongst scholars. In this original and exhaustive study he shows that this catastrophic event was of profound importance not only for the development of early Christianity but possibly also for its very survival. Besides an ordered survey of other ancient historians, this book demonstrates an extensive study of New Testament origins, and many will find special interest in the light it throws upon the origin and purpose of canonical works. This book faces serious problems of New Testament study that have generally been too easily dismissed, and it makes a definite and original contribution towards their solution.