he wrote the first critical commentary on the aramaic version of isaiah ("the isaiah targum", 1987), as well as academic studies that analyze jesus in his judaic context ("a galilean rabbi and his bible", 1984; "the temple of jesus", 1992; pure kingdom, 1996), and explain the bible critically ("redeeming time: the wisdom of ancient jewish and christian festal calendars", 2002; "the cambridge companion to the bible", 2007).