Without some such attempt at integration, the danger is always present that history and theology will fall apart. There are still plenty of people who insist that the only proper task for the New Testament scholar is ‘neutral’ historical description.14 ‘History’ is regarded as the public task, out in the open. Anyone can engage in it, and indeed anyone might wish to, since, as Räisänen argues, early Christianity was part of a vital period in world history, and to understand it might well contribute