While the relationship between Second Temple Jewish exegesis andearly Christian exegesis as demonstrated in theNew Testament is universally recognized, the reasons fortheirsimilarities and differencesare often elusive. Donald H. Juel in Messianic Exegesis seeks to unknot this tangled web of interpretation. Juel's thesis is simple: Christianity's origins are rooted in the earliest Christian interpretations of Israel'sScriptures. The difficulty resides in showing how thesedistinctiveinterpretations arose. Juel argues that the events of Jesus' life form the fulcrum fortheChristian re-readingofJewishScripture. In particular, Juel shows howChristian beliefin a crucified and risen Messiah guided both the selection and appropriation of Old Testament textsatexts like 2 Samuel 7, Daniel 7, and Psalms 2 and 110. With the confession Jesus is the Messiahas the central claim of Christianity,Juel is able toshowthe fluidity of contemporary Jewish exegesis while alsomakingthe anomalous uses ofScripture within theearlyChristian community understandable. Christians proclaimedJesus as Messiahthroughouttheir exegesis and thereby defined their emerging community through the way theyread Scripture.