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:"The Church Outside the Congregation", Peter Thwaites

:"Uncommon Sense", Strohmer & Peck

Religious Experience in Earliest Christianity
Luke Timothy Johnson                 £12.99
If you want to know what it was like to be part of a community of believers in the first century, then take a look at this. Johnson is a complete boff and he gets detailed and deep as he writes about the experience of God, the use of ritual, and the communal meal. It's very in depth - some chapters seem like they’re 50% footnotes! But such is the way of academia: Johnson is getting you inside the head of the first century Christian, and doing it well. Read through this and you won't be disappointed. He’s gonna explain to you the religious experience of those early Christians, by examining the rituals, spiritual ecstasy and communal meals of their lives. Johnson focusses on helping you understand what it was like to be a Christian in the first century, and in doing so gets you thinking about both your life and theirs. Excellent.

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The Visit - Would you be ready?
Adrian Plass
Fat, thoughtful, and happy, Adrian Plass plays fiction about the founder of Christianity returning for a quick visit. Word spreads: Some are eager to see him close up at last; Some want doctrinal questions clarified. Some are hiding, lest their inner secrets be revealed. The narrator is put in charge of showing 'the founder' around, and finds him to be unconvential, sensitive, and sometimes wild in his approach to life, uncannily understanding, and often simultaneously disturbing and comforting. Over the course of the visit, the relationship between these two characters changes, as the narrator is inquisitive, assuming, dumbfounded, arrogant, likeable, angry, confused, humbled, and, ind the end, glad and relieved of his traumas. Spin me a yarn, Plassy-boy, give us a chuckle and some of your wisdoms from the biscuit tin.

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