This article considers the range of meanings of “Torah” in first century Jewish writings from Philo, Josephus, Paul, and texts including 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch. I argue that the use of “Torah” is variegated and ranges even in writings from the same author, and therefore scholars should not assume that “Torah” or its various synonyms can mean only one thing.

It is my modest goal in this essay to trace how Nock uses conversion to produce religion(s) and then to explore its similarities to and differences from an analogous construction of religion-through-conversion in late antiquity.

“Chapter 7: Maintaining the City Enslaved Labor and Trade in Roman Philippi” in Philippi, From Colonia Augusta to Communitas Christiana: Religion and Society in Transition, edited by Steven J. Friesen, Michalis Lychounas, and Daniel N. Schowalter (Leiden: Brill, 2021).