The Introduction outlines the primary theoretical approaches of the monograph and scrutinizes why the study of early Christianity and the New Testament tends to adopt idiosyncratic methodologies when compared with allied fields like classics. Chapter summaries are provided as well as a discussion of what I term the “paradigm of exceptionalism,” or the reasons why so-called religious literature – that is, writings associated with still-practiced religions – often faces a different set of evaluative criteria within the academy.