• Culturally, it was mixed, with a symbolic world shaped by a
Judaism that was already Hellenized and with steady success
among Gentiles rather than Jews.
• Religiously, it made claims to an experience of ultimate power
through the Holy Spirit that were cosmic but disproportionate to the
actual situation of believers in the world.
• Conceptually, the founding figure of Jesus presented a set of
major challenges to understanding: Was he cursed or the source of
blessing? If he was Lord, then what does that mean for monotheism?
• Many of the subsequent issues faced by Christians would involve
the same tensions that marked the entry of the religion into the
world and its first expansion.
Johnson, The Real Jesus.
———, The Writings of the New Testament, especially pp. 83–136.
- Discuss the ways in which the “founder” of Christianity differs from the
founders of Buddhism and Islam. - How does the concept of cognitive dissonance help explain the necessity
of Christians to reinterpret their symbolic world?
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider