Early Jews and Christians understood the Holy Spirit in a very different way than most Christians understand it today. They understood the spirit of God as something given to all flesh as part of creation -- a spirit no less divine or holy than the spirit one might receive through charismatic endowments. In this book John Levison works to recover that early conception of the Holy Spirit and to embrace the belief that the power of God's spirit pulses in every breath we take. Levison sums up historical and biblical arguments and discusses implications for the church today. "The gift of the spirit is not a moment's work," Levison says. "The gift of the spirit is steady and continuous -- something worth knowing in the struggles that have the potential to shatter life into meaningless shards."