In Filled with the Spirit, John Levison, professor of New Testament at Seattle Pacific University, presents a dense and thorough study of pneumatology in ancient Israelite, Jewish, and early Christian literatures. He explores conceptions of the spirit in antiquity to demonstrate the continuities and discontinuities between the operative pneumatologies in the ancient world.

He utilises the work of Hermann Gunkel on early Christian pneumatology as a starting-point for his overall discussion as well as for each major section, but he goes beyond Gunkel to assert his own perspective.

In the first section of the book, he focuses on the literature of ancient Israel. In it he boldly breaks down the traditional conceptual wall between the initial endowment of God's spirit at birth (life principle) and the subsequent charismatic endowment of the spirit (miraculous effects) by revealing that in ancient Israel the breath of life within and the spirit of God were the same. Thus, extraordinary insight and wisdom were not necessarily due to a successive endowment because (the) spirit was already within individuals. In section two Levison centres on the literature of ancient Judaism during the Graeco-Roman era. In it he counters conventional claims that the spirit was missing in Second Temple Judaism by revealing the vitality of spirit language in ancient Jewish literature. Moreover, he demonstrates eclectic perspectives on the spirit in this setting, including the view that the spirit within is virtuous such that this spirit is called the ‘holy spirit’, the Graeco-Roman beliefs of inspiration via ecstasy and inspired interpretation of Israel's scriptures, and the Qumran communal ideal of being filled with the spirit. Section three focuses on early Christian literature, specifically the writings of Paul, the book of Acts, John and 1 John. In this section Levison shows that, even though there are some remnants of the earlier conceptions of spirit (e.g. spirit within as locus of virtue), there is a radical break from the past with the clear stress upon being filled with the spirit as a later, additional divine endowment, and not connected to the initial divine breath at creation.

Throughout this book, Levison makes a convincing argument for heterogeneous ideas about the spirit in the ancient world through an in-depth exploration of ancient texts, such that the meaning of ‘filled with the spirit’ is shown to be varied, not monolithic. His comparative approach is a great strength as he charts the continuities and discontinuities in ancient pneumatologies, such that there is mutual illumination between the literatures of ancient Israel, Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity. Levison does not acquiesce with the tendency of twentieth-century scholarship to read Israel's scriptures through the early Christian understanding of the spirit as special endowment. He courageously attempts to take ancient Israel and Judaism on their own pneumatological terms, which then offer up fresh insights about notions of spirit. Overall, Levison is successful at broadening what is meant by ‘filled with the spirit’ in ancient times, including the span from creation to the new creation.

Despite these affirmations, the reader might wonder what one is supposed to glean from this work, except keen exegetical insights; perhaps this is due to its abrupt ending or lack of conclusion. Levison adds a postscript to section three but then ends with an epilogue about Gunkel, even though Gunkel's contributions play ‘no essential role in the main arguments of the present book’ (p. 429). It might have been more helpful for Levison to note some implications of this study for Christian practice. The exegetical insights for pneumatological understanding within ancient biblical literature open up that world, but what do these insights mean for the practice of faith in this world? How do these notions of spirit translate into and shape the ministry of the church, especially since there is a theological relationship between pneumatology and ecclesiology? For instance, the convergence of spirit and Spirit, evident through Levison's use of lowercase ‘s’ throughout his book, may raise questions about the purpose of contemporary evangelism and imply the importance of interreligious dialogue. A concise conclusion could have pointed the reader in some of these directions.

Nonetheless, this is a worthwhile read as a tremendous contribution to anyone interested in learning more about the presence and power of the spirit of God.