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 holistic,
phenomenological approach can be made. This makes possible the
inclusion in the study of early Christianity the world of healings
and religious power, of ecstasy and spirit -- in short, the
religious experience of real persons. It is this subtle yet real
presence of religious experience that alters the discipline and
practice of New Testament scholarship, as Johnson notes: "This
is neither history in the strict sense of the term, nor is it
theology. That's the whole point: we need a new way of looking
in order to see what we can't otherwise see. If I have
succeeded at least in whetting an appetite for getting at what
these chapters try to get at, I am content, for what they try to
get at is important." 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.
