Early Christianity: The Experience of the Divine

by Luke Timothy Johnson

12 Audio Cassette Tapes

Genres: History, Religion, Audiobook, Christianity, Nonfiction, Theology, Christian

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Luke Timothy Johnson is an American New Testament scholar and historian of early Christianity. He is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Candler School of Theology and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.

Johnson's research interests encompass the Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts of early Christianity (particularly moral discourse), Luke-Acts, the Pastoral Epistles, and the Epistle of James.

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 4 out of 5]

So enjoyed Professor Johnson’s other course, The Apostle Paul, I was really looking forward to this one, the only other course by him I owned. Unfortunately, there was some defect in a few tapes, so I struggled through the others as best I could. The course outlines were up-to-par even if the course itself didn’t cover what I thought it would. Still it was interesting. The best lesson was the one about Gnosticism and why it forced Christianity into the development of creeds. I never really understood Gnosticism, or the importance of our creed or that the two were related, so for that reason alone, the course was worth four stars.

[James Rhodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good history with a focus on theology and orthodox Christian thinking. Johnson spends a lot of time on context and as a consequence what we are left with is a useful overview rather than an in depth look at various Early Christian communities. Nevertheless, it is well researched and an interesting course. The orthodoxy of its approach leaves it to be fairly dismissive of alternative perspectives and to gloss over them at a surface level but the overall quality of the course is not too heavily affected by it. It is more of a beginners course than I was hoping for but had some great insights.

[Amy Gideon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars

It was interesting, especially seeing how Christianity related to other religions of the time. I also enjoyed seeing how early Christianity came together.

There were a few times where the lecturer is a bit off putting. For example in the first lecture he makes a comment about how Christianity is the last belief where its okay to make fun of in our politically correct society. I almost clicked off. Falling for the Christianity persecution propaganda as a professor is wild. I live in Texas where Christianity literally has a chokehold on every facet of life and I'm supposed to believe they're the persecuted ones? If he had made the caveat that they're so entwined with our government that they get criticism than okay, but he didn't. Also, I always side eye people using the term politically correct since it tends to be used as a dog whistle by conservatives, same as when they talk about being woke. Not saying this guy is using it that way just giving an example of why I found him off putting at times.

[Tom Hardin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I watched this series rather than read the book. It is part of the great courses. Luke Timothy Johnson is a good speaker. He does a good job of setting up the story of early Christian believers and does it in the context of a phenomenology of the people, text and time. You get a good feel for what was important in the early days of Christianity just after the resurrection event. I think the twenty four lectures he delivers are thorough and easy to understand. I recommend this religion course. You come a way with a sense of the enduring power of the Christian faith for believers. THH

[Robert John Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes it's a better study of the intellectual pathologies of 20th Century sociology than it is of the history of early Christianity but once you get past the framing and jargon of the first five sections it gets interesting.

[Kiki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good course for the cultural background that Christianity was born into.

[Scott Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy his books as they are informative and not as boring as you would expect for the subject.

[sch · Rating 5 out of 5]

May 2020. Again. Excellent in every way: clarity and organization, verve and interest, academic integrity and scrupulousness, and edifying in faith.

Sep 2015. Illuminating.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like his lectures though I do think he spent a lot of time on background material and I would have liked to have heard a bit more from the post apostolic writers. Some good background materials and he makes interesting points but it came across to me as lectures about Christianity as if it is a subject to be studied more than a life to be lived. He does however make it clear that a good part of Christianity's impetus and success arose from experiences of and claims of experience of the power of the Holy Spirit.

[Skylar Burris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not as good as the other two of his lecture series to which I have listened. It drags, rambles a bit.

[Katie O'Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sheds some light into the differences among early Christian sects.

[Bill Dauster · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's lecture 11 before Johnson starts talking about Jesus, having spent the first 10 lectures on definitions and context-setting. Frustrating to anyone seeking a history of early Christianity