"Remains of the Jews" studies the rise of Christian Empire in late antiquity (300-550 C.E.) through the dense and complex manner in which Christian authors wrote about Jews in the charged space of the " holy land." The book employs contemporary cultural studies, particularly postcolonial criticism, to read Christian writings about holy land Jews as colonial writings. These writings created a cultural context in which Christians viewed themselves as powerful-- and in which, perhaps, Jews were able to construct a posture of resistance to this new Christian Empire. "Remains of the Jews" reexamines familiar types of literature-- biblical interpretation, histories, sermons, letters-- from a new perspective in order to understand how power and resistance shaped religious identities in the later Roman Empire.
