Filled with the Spirit [Hardcover]

John R. Levison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2009

Containing meticulous, up-to-date scholarship yet written in a flowing, enjoyable style, this comprehensive book takes readers on a journey through a breathtaking array of literary texts, encompassing the literature of Israel, early Judaism, the Greco-Roman world, and the New Testament. John R. Levison’s skill with ancient texts — already demonstrated in his acclaimed The Spirit in First-Century Judaism — is here extended to a myriad of other expressions of the Spirit in antiquity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“An impressive and provocative study that is sure to be a significant voice in the evolving discussions regarding the Spirit of God in the literatures of early Israel, Second Temple Judaism, and early Christianity.”
— Review of Biblical Literature

“Levison has provided a compelling, eloquent, sensitive reading of texts related to God’s Spirit. . . . Filled with the Spirit is a category-altering book with the potential to reshape how one ministers and lives as a spirit-empowered agent in the world.”
— Word and World

“There are many books on the Holy Spirit, but few historical studies of the development of pneumatology (as the study of the Spirit is called), and this is a good and subtle one. It takes the reader into ancient Jewish and pagan texts as well as the Bible, and shows how variegated and complex was the background against which Paul could speak of ‘the fruits of the Spirit’.”
— Church Times

“An impressive study.”
— Journal of Ancient Judaism

“A remarkable read.”
— Thermelios

“[Here] is a new book that will become, and perhaps already has become, the benchmark and starting point for all future studies of the Spirit. The effusiveness of the endorsements match what I have seen in the book: a full study of the evidence in the Old Testament, the Jewish literature, Greco-Roman materials and the New Testament, and a comprehensive re-evaluation of the state of the art. . . . This book is eloquent and exceptional. Buy it and read it.”
— Scot McKnight
on the blog Jesus Creed: Scot McKnight on Jesus and Orthodox Faith in the 21st Century

“Levison’s scholarly book is worth buying for the wealth of his research on Greco-Roman literature, for his extensive use of the Qumran writings that cast light on the biblical texts, and for multiple precious insights into both testaments, all presented in a delightful, engaging style.”
— Catholic Biblical Quarterly

“This insightful and meticulous research is addressed to fellow scholars, but graduate students and pastors will find that it rewards patient application. It deserves a prize.”
— The Bible Today

About the Author

John R. Levison is professor of New Testament at Seattle Pacific University. His other books include The Spirit in First-Century Judaism, Texts in Transition: The Greek Life of Adam and Eve, and Jesus in Global Contexts. He is also the founding editor of the series Ekstasis: Religious Experience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 500 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (October 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802863728
• ISBN-13: 978-0802863720
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #506,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jack Levison (b. 1956) grew up in a small tract house on Long Island, New York. He left to attend Wheaton College, where a professor urged him to study at Cambridge University, based upon the resplendent daffodil season and not the wintry toilet seats, which were positively icy. At Duke University (Ph.D.), Jack fell in love with a divinity student, Priscilla Pope, with whom he now shares a job, a home, two companionable teenagers, and a black mutt named Maggie. Jack has received extensive funding from the Lilly Fellows Program, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the National Humanities Center, the Louisville Institute, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the International Catacomb Society, and the TransCoop Program of the Humboldt Foundation. He founded a new book series, Ekstasis: Religious Experience From Antiquity to the Middle Ages, and he is Professor of New Testament at Seattle Pacific University.