The Parting of the Ways is James Dunn's classic exploration of the important questions that surround the emergence of Christian distinctiveness and the pulling apart of Christianity and Judaism in the first century of our era. The book begins by surveying the way in which questions have been approached since the time of F C Baur in the nineteenth century. The author then presents the four pillars of Judaism: monotheism, election and land, Torah and Temple. He then examines various issues which arose with the emergence of Jesus: Jesus and the temple; the Stephen affair; temple and cult in...

In Baptism in the Holy Spirit James Dunn argues that water baptism is only one element in the New Testament pattern of conversion and initiation. The gift of the Spirit, he believes, is the central element. For the writers of the New Testament only those who had received the Holy Spirit could be called Christians. For them the reception of the Spirit was a very definite and often very dramatic experience - the decisive and climactic experience in conversion - initiation - to which Christians were usually recalled when reminded of their Christian faith and experience. In this book James Dunn...

The apostle Paul has been justifiably described as the first and greatest Christian theologian. His letters were among the earliest documents to be included in the New Testament and, as such, they influenced Christian thinking from its very beginning. This Companion provides an important assessment of the apostle as well as a new appreciation of his continuing contemporary significance. With eighteen chapters written by a team of well-known international Pauline specialists, the collection will have wide appeal and be an invaluable point of departure for subsequent studies.