Baptism in the Holy Spirit

In Baptism in the Holy Spirit James Dunn argues that water baptismis only one element in the New Testament pattern of conversionand initiation. The gift of the Spirit, he believes, is the centralelement. For the writers of the New Testament only those who hadreceived the Holy Spirit could be called Christians. For them thereception of the Spirit was a very definite and often very dramaticexperience - the decisive and climactic experience in conversion -initiation - to which Christians were usually recalled when remindedof their Christian faith and experience. In this book James Dunnuncovers the place of the gift of the Holy Spirit in the total complexevent of becoming a Christian. His conclusions will help readers todeepen their understanding of the sacrament of baptism.Since its original publication in 1970 Baptism in the Holy Spirit hasbecome a classic of New Testament scholarship. This new edition,published on the fortieth anniversary of its original publication,includes a new extended Preface in which James Dunn engageswith the debates about Baptism in the Holy Spirit since it was firstpublished.James D. G. Dunn was Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in theUniversity of Durham. He is the author of numerous best-sellingbooks and acknowledged as one of the world's leading experts onNew Testament study.