The Gospels serve as primary sources for the SpendaYearwithJesus experience. They provide numerous details of setting, characters, time, and action from which to build a framework around Jesus’ experience in his culture.

When considering legal and temple practice, E. P. Sanders offered a rule of thumb that includes 5 sources:**

• the priestly writer [for example, temple practices from Leviticus],
• Jospehus,
• the Mishnah,
• Philo,
• and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical books like the Chronicles or Nehemiah, the Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.

For Sanders, Leviticus, Josephus, and the Mishnah together provide a solid witness to first-century legal-religious practices. Josephus and the Mishnah together are also probable as is agreement between the Dead Sea Scrolls and Mishnah. Three witnesses are best, however.

In addition, with all of the sources, one must be aware of potential dependence of the later texts quoting or deriving from Leviticus without reference to practice at the time of the writing.

** E. P. Sanders, “Comparing Judaism and Christianity: An Academic Autobiography,” 2004. A paper read at “New Views of First-Century Jewish and Christian Self-Definition: An International Conference in honor of E. P. Sanders.” Pages 21-22.