In understanding early Christianity (i.e. Jesus and the first Christians), the N.T. materials can be analyzed in their various dimensions (e.g., historical, theological, experiential, etc.).  What N.T. Wright has  provided for us by way of his treatment of the second-temple Jewish,  historical background of Jesus and the first Christians, Dunn has done for  us via his treatment of the experiential dimension.  This is not to  "reduce" their faith to subjective experiences, but to show how  their relation to God was reflected in their various experiences of God's  Spirit.  This helps us to discover in what ways Jesus' own experiences were  distinctive (or unique), and, at the same time, like those of the first  believers.One of the major points Dunn brings out is, that both Jesus'  and the first Christian's experience of the Spirit was  "eschatological" in nature:  they experienced an outpouring of  the Spirit and understood themselves to be living, now, in the new age to  come.  This awareness, on Jesus' part, led him to understand himself as the  one who was bringing in the kingdom of God, as his Son, and manifested  itself in the first believers as a full and diversified experience of the  Spirit, which was determinative for every aspect of their lives, not least  in their worship.  Dunn discusses the various charismata and admonitions by  Paul, in responding to the disruptions in the Corinthian church, to  safeguard against their misuse.One of the major claims in his book is,  that in the resurrection appearances to the apostles, the experience  included a commission to proclaim the gospel--this, he maintains, was one  of the "distinctive" features of the resurrection appearances.   In this interpretation, of course, Dunn is trying to explain the  experiential basis for the apostolic authority. Dunn also stresses the  "not yet" side of the Christian experience, and interprets Paul's  comments in Romans 7 in these terms:  the Christian experiences the tension  caused by still living within the present age (a point Gordon Fee has  challenged in his writings).  In this regard, Dunn has an excellent  discussion of Paul's stress on sharing (and glorying) in the suffering of  Christ--it is precisely through sharing in his (Jesus') death that we may  be conformed to his life.  This, for Paul, was the basis of his gospel and  in what he gloried.Dunn displays an obvious appreciation of the  charismatic nature of the life of the first Christains, and on several  occasions cautions against simply "reading off" or dismissing the  Spirit phenomena witnessed in the N.T.  While he does not argue for  accepting each particular incident of a "miracle" story,  nevertheless, he maintains that we need to remain objective in our  evaluation of such phenomena and not arbitrarily dismiss them on the basis  of a supposed more enlightened modern view.This work is one of the few  of its kind, and provides another important interpretative dimension to  help us understand the origin of Christian faith and actual experiences of  Jesus and the first Christians.  It is a very sensitive and objective  treatment, and has direct relevance to Christological study in particular.

Jesus and the Spirit: A Study of the Religious and Charismatic Experience of Jesus and the First Christians as Reflected in the New Testament PDF

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