p> Christian exegesis that arose in the apostolic period can be said to have absorbed the moral injunctions of Midrash but appears in the main to have been concerned to show how Jesus fulfilled, amplified, or departed from Jewish tradition and justify the legitimacy of the new religion. According to Marcheschi, the apostolic period of Christianity considered extant scripture relevant to the new religion to the degree it was prophetic of Jesus as both the fulfillment of old religious tradition and the founder of a new one. In the following, patristic period, scripture was read "allegorically" and was felt to "contain[] deeper meanings put there (inspired) by God" but not necessarily manifest. For the Christ
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