Studies In The Fourth Gospel

Using various narrative approaches and methodologies, an international team of forty-four Johannine scholars here offers probing essays related to individual characters and group characters in the Gospel of John. These essays present fresh perspectives on characters who play a major role in the Gospel (Peter, Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, Thomas, and many others), but they also examine characters who have never before been the focus of narrative analysis (the men of the Samaritan woman, the boy with the loaves and fishes, Barabbas, and more). Taken together, the essays shed new light on how complex and nuanced many of these characters are, even as they stand in the shadow of Jesus. Readers of this volume will be challenged to consider the Gospel of John anew.

These in-depth studies on the Gospel of John, written by the man who describes himself as a 'conservative evangelical,' demonstrate that the application of the critical method to an understanding of scripture need not rule out an acceptance of inspiration. Dr. Morris is here concerned with the authorship of the fourth Gospel, its relation to the Synoptists, the origin and date of writing, and with other similar issues. To his discussion of these issues he brings both his impressive scholarship and firm commitment to the revelatory nature of the Bible. The result is an informed and articulate statement of the conservative position on the many crucial questions raised by John's Gospel. In his Preface to this volume, Dr. Morris notes that Critical Protestant scholars and Roman Catholics are reading one another's works and discussing one another's writings with charity and mutual profit. Perhaps it is not too much to hope that both will include the conservative evangelicals within the scope of their reading and charity. In the hope that it will make some small contribution to the continuing dialogue this book goes forth.

The Fourth Gospel both blesses and betrays. It blesses readers who engage with its message, but it may betray those who read it nonchalantly. The notion that the Fourth Gospel is easy to understand is an enduring myth. This volume takes readers on a heuristic journey to discover the Fourth Gospel's unique theological aspects, problematic historical matters, inimitable literary features, and various interpretive approaches using an accessible format and easy-to-read language. The purpose of this publication is to enable readers to appreciate the Fourth Gospel's wide horizon, so necessary to understand its narratives in their historical and narrative contexts. Like the prologue of the Fourth Gospel that introduces and gives perspective on how readers should approach the rest of the Gospel, similarly, this volume introduces and gives perspective to studies in the Fourth Gospel. The text is divided into three parts, which examine its independent theology and argumentation, various outstanding issues, and its interpretation respectively. This volume is suitable for a wide readership, from Bible study groups to pastors and from undergraduate to graduate students.

These Things Have Been Written" calls to mind the fashion in which the Fourth Gospel was written, with particular emphasis upon Johannine characterization. In various ways it elucidates many facets of the evangelist's notion of faith. The final chapters focus on the incarnation of the Word and the new commandment of love. Raymond F. Collins is professor of New Testament Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, and former rector of The American College affiliated with the university. A specialist in the New Testament's Johannine and Pauline literature, he has published a number of significant books on the New Testament including an "Introduction to the New Testament" (1983), "Studies on the First Letter to the Thessalonians" (1984), and the "Letters That Paul Did not Write" (1988).

Is historical criticism of the New Testament dead? In this telling collection of eight new studies on John's Gospel, John Ashton argues that this is very far from the case. Challenging the assumptions of methodologies which ignore the historical context in which the Gospel was composed, the author offers a spirited defence of historical criticism and provides practical demonstration of the many new insights which it has still to yield. The first two chapters treat in greater depth two key themes, the Prologue of John and the Jews, which appeared in the author's Understanding the Fourth Gospel. A third chapter is intended to supplement and correct this larger work. The rest of the book explores some of the serious theoretical weaknesses in much recent writing on the Gospel and makes some alternative proposals.

About this Book: Gail R. O’Day’s Revelation in the Fourth Gospel set the stage for a new literary paradigm in Johannine studies, which has carried over into disciplinary advances in gospel criticism overall. With the addition of eight key Johannine essays and a state-of-the-art introduction by Alan Culpepper, this new publication as Volume 9 in the Johannine Monograph Series advances a fuller appreciation of her important work on John and new-literary biblical analyses overall. From the Preface: What becomes apparent in an overview of Gail O’Day’s work is her keen analysis of relations and functions of literary themes and features within the Gospel of John, as they further its rhetorical thrust, elucidating its meaning. Whereas diachronic approaches to John have tended to compartmentalize and divide sections and literary forms, O’Day shows time and again how things worked synchronically within John’s story of Jesus, challenging misinterpretations and opening doors to understanding more fully its message. The present collection highlights the dialectics between narrative and theology, time and space, and characters and plot in the Fourth Gospel, clarifying their tensive presentations within this classic narrative.

Essential classroom resource for New Testament courses In this book, a group of international scholars go in detail to explain how the author of the Gospel of John uses a variety of narrative strategies to best tell his story. More than a commentary, this book offers a glimpse at the way an ancient author created and used narrative features such as genre, character, style, persuasion, and even time and space to shape a dramatic story of the life of Jesus. Features: An introduction to the Fourth Gospel through its narrative features and dynamics Fifteen features of story design that comprise the Gospel of John Short, targeted essays about how John works that can be used as starting points for the study of other Gospels/texts

Compelling perspectives on the Gospel of John from a premiere scholar of the subject This multidimensional volume from the leading American scholar of Johannine studies brings together D. Moody Smith's germinal works from the past two decades along with some original articles published here for the first time. The resulting collection augments current understanding of the Gospel of John with fresh insights and research and points the way toward opportunities for new inquiry. The collection is structured around four focal issues that define contemporary studies of John. In the first section, Smith places the book within its Jewish milieu, attempting to account for the tension between the work's seeming anti-Jewishness and its familiarity with Jewish life and thought. Next Smith engages the relationship between John and the historical figure of Jesus, especially the extent to which John's representation of Jesus reflects knowledge of independent traditions as well as the self-consciousness of his own community. The third section examines John's account against the Synoptic Gospels, assessing the evidence of John's access to an independent record of the passion and the possibility that John adopted the gospel genre from Mark. Finally, Smith explores how the Gospels, and especially that of John, evolved into scripture and how they have come to be interpreted in conjunction with one another.