books I read January 2011
an abbreviated selection
The Ways That Never Parted : Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages ed. Adam H. Becker and Annette Yoshiko Reed
Explorations on faith and practice along the Jewish-Christian Continuum, during the time when both rabbinic Judaism and orthodox Christianity were defining ourselves. I'd've preferred more archeology, and some examination of the Ethiopian evidence (having its Christian foundations in late antiquity, and being the most "Jewish" of the extant Christian traditions), but well worth reading anyway. (However, just so you know, the google books electronic edition Doesn't Work. You buy it, you only get the introductions. They give you your money back, but Still.)
The hyena people : Ethiopian Jews in Christian Ethiopia by Hagar Salamon
Speaking of the Ethiopian evidence, here is a short and excellent study about the modern relationships between the Bet Israel and their Christian neighbors.