Andreas-Christian Heidel
New Testament and early Christian sources presuppose almost unquestioningly that the dynamics of Christianity and the stunning conviction that buttressed the faith of the early Christians in Christ are rooted in the efficacious presence of the “Spirit”. In short, religious experiences underlie Christian identity and theology. Therefore, Andreas focuses on the significance of religious experience(s) for the development of early Christianity in its Greco-Roman urban context, using the example of Roman Corinth in the first two centuries CE.
By conducting a historical-phenomenological investigation of selected religious dimensions in the urban life of the early Christians in Corinth, he seeks to elucidate the potential of these dimensions for religious experience as a factor in the emergence, existence, and spread of early Christianity. A more profound understanding of this religious context can thus lead to a better understanding of the influence that this environment had on the spirituality of the early Christians, but also of the factors that made it unique.
