Introduction
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the importance of the Temple for the early Christians and the diversity in the attitude toward the Temple found in the New Testament (NT). The Temple is the heart of ancient Judaism, in both an institutional and a symbolic sense. Meanwhile, early Christian discourse about the Temple engages with Judaism or with early Christianity's own Jewishness. This discourse is laden with deep religious sentiments, both positive and negative. Most NT texts allude to the Temple at a time when the physical structure is no longer in existence, and yet the Temple remains significant and even central to the authors of Luke, Hebrews, and Revelation. It is commonly argued that there are at least four ways in which the Temple is superseded in the NT texts: the church is the new Temple; the individual believer is the Temple; the Temple is in heaven; and the Temple is Jesus's body.