This study has been made possible by the assistance of many kind and helpful individuals - more than I can possibly list: I am most grateful to John Milbank and Catherine Pickstock for their careful and detailed supervision of this project. I am also grateful to Jeremy Adler for his help and support. Mary Douglas and Ritchie Robertson contributed a close and critical reading of the penultimate version of this study. I thank them for all of their help and encouragement. - I also thank Aleida and Jan Assmann, Gillian and John Beer, Ingrid Belke, Rüssel A. Berman, James Bowman, Richard Pardon, Michael Fishbane, Sander L. Oilman, Michael Hamburger, Wolf-Daniel Hartwich, Jakob Köllhofer, David Levin, Donald N. Levine, Francoise Meltzer, Michael Minden, Sivan and Daniel B. Monterescu, Arno Reinfrank, Eric Santner, Oded Schlechter, Jonathan Steinberg, Rudolf Siihnel, Guy G. Stroumsa, Andrew Webber, Philip Ward, Liliane Weissberg, Harry Zohn and my parents for their generous encouragement and help.