Religious Experience in Earliest Christianity: A Missing Dimension in New Testament Study

Johnson, Luke Timothy

ISBN 10: 0800631293 / ISBN 13: 9780800631291

Published by Fortress Press, 1998

Excellent condition with just a hint of character. Minor signs of love, but the pages are still clean and ready for adventure. Seller Inventory # PKV.0800631293.VG

Synopsis:

Luke Johnson here issues a provocative call for a radically new direction in New Testament studies that can change the way we have viewed the entire phenomenon of early Christianity.Johnson is convinced that the dominant ways of studying early Christianity tend to miss its specifically religious character, because of a disjunction between formal religion and "popular" religion. He proposes in this book, by means of three case studies-baptism, glossolalia, and meals-to show how a more wholistic, phenomenological approach can be made. This makes possible the inclusion of the world of healings and religious power, of ecstay and spirit-in short, the religious experience of real persons in the study of early Christianity.Johnson concludes that there is still much to be learned about early Christianity as a religion, if we can find a way to get at the category of real experience. He maintains that early Christian texts reflect lives that are caught up by and defined by a power not in their control but controlled instead by the crucified and raised Messiah Jesus.

About the Author:

Luke Timothy Johnson, the author of the Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections on the Letter of James, is Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. His works include The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Trust of the Traditional Gospels and The Letter of James, in the Anchor Bible series.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Religious Experience in Earliest ...
Publisher: Fortress Press
Publication Date: 1998
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: very_good