Authorship of the Johannine works
Part of a series of articles on |
John in the Bible |
---|
Johannine literature |
Authorship |
Related literature |
See also |
The authorship of the Johannine works (the Gospel of John, the Johannine epistles, and the Book of Revelation) has been debated by biblical scholars since at least the 2nd century AD.[1] The debate focuses mainly on the identity of the author(s), as well as the date and location of authorship of these writings.
Although authorship of all of these works has traditionally been attributed to John the Apostle,[2] only a minority of contemporary scholars believe he wrote the gospel,[3] and most conclude that he wrote none of them.[2][4][5] Although some scholars conclude the author of the epistles was different from that of the gospel, most scholars agree that all three epistles are written by the same author [6][7][8] or school of thought.[9]
With respect to the date and location of authorship of these writings, there is general agreement that all four works probably originated from the same
In the case of Revelation, many modern scholars agree that it was written by a separate author, John of Patmos, c. 95 with some parts possibly dating to Nero's reign in the early 60s.[2][12]
Early use and attribution of the Johannine works
Attestation
The first supposed witness to Johannine theology among the Fathers of the Church is in Ignatius of Antioch, whose Letter to the Philippians some claim references John 3:8[13] and alludes to John 10:7-9[14] and John 14:6,[15] but none of these are direct quotations or contain information exclusive to John. Polycarp of Smyrna quotes about the "antichrist" in his Epistle to the Phillipians 7:1, a sure reference from the letters of John because the antichrist doctrine is not found in the textual record before the Johannine letters. Justin Martyr also alludes to ideas in John, though this reference is not certain, so the dating of John is not settled.[16][17]
The earliest testimony to the author was that of
Irenaeus's witness based on Papias represents the tradition in Ephesus, where John the Apostle is reputed to have lived.[19] Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp, thus in the second generation after the apostle. According to many scholars, he states unequivocally that the apostle is the author of the Gospel. (Other scholars note, however, that Irenaeus consistently refers to the author of the gospel, as well as of Revelation, as "the disciple of the Lord," whereas he refers to the others as "apostles." And so Irenaeus appears to distinguish John, the author of the fourth gospel, from John the Apostle.) Koester rejects the reference of Ignatius of Antioch as referring to the Gospel and cites Irenaeus as the first to use it.[20]
For some time it was common practice to assert that the Rylands Library Papyrus P52, which contains a small portion of chapter 18 of the Gospel of John, demonstrated that the text of the gospel spread rapidly through Egypt in the second century. However, more recent scholarship has shown the fragment may date from as late as the third or fourth century, rather than the second century, as was previously supposed.[21]
Rome was the home to the only early rejection of the fourth Gospel. The adversaries of Montanism were responsible. Irenaeus says that these persons tried to suppress the teaching about the Holy Spirit in order to put down Montanism, and as a result denied the authorship of the Gospel and its authority. Later Epiphanius called this group, who were followers of the priest Caius, the Alogi in a wordplay between "without the Word" and "without reason".
Quotations
The gospel was not widely quoted until late in the 2nd century.
Can it be a coincidence that immediately after Justin, the enemy of heretics who took aim at the
Marcion (AH 1. 28. 1 [=1.26.1]).[28]
One reason for this 'orthodox ambivalence' was
. In the quote below Irenaeus argues against the gnostic heresy from his book Against Heresies:For, summing up his statements respecting the Word previously mentioned by him, he further declares, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." But, according to their [gnostic] hypothesis, the Word did not become flesh at all, inasmuch as He never went outside of the Pleroma, but that Saviour [became flesh] who was formed by a special dispensation [out of all the Æons], and was of later date than the Word.[31]
Several church fathers of the 2nd century never quoted John, but the earliest extant written commentary on any book of the New Testament was that written on John by Heracleon, a disciple of the gnostic
The following table shows the number of times various church fathers cited John compared to the
Gospel | Barn. | Did. | Ign. | Poly. | Herm. | II Clem. | Papias | Basilides |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Synoptics | 1? | 1? | 7(+4?) | 1 | 0 | 1(+3?) | 2 | 1 |
John or Epistles | 0 | 0 | 2? | 1 | 0 | 0 | ? | 1 |
Gospel | Marcion | Justin | Valentinus | Hegesip. | Ptolem. | Melito | Apollin. | Athenag. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Synoptics | Luke | 170 | 1 | 3? | 4 | 4 | 1 | 13 |
John or Epistles | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
Gospel of John
The authorship of the Gospel of John, the Fourth Gospel, is widely contested. Scholars have debated the authorship of Johannine literature since at least the third century, but especially since the Enlightenment.
Overview
A summary of the proposed candidates is as follows:
- The apostle John, son of Zebedee – traditionally the author was identified as John the Apostle, but his authorship is almost universally rejected by modern scholars.[2][4]
- John of Patmos, the author of the Book of Revelation (alias the Apocalypse of John) – mainstream scholars conclude that John of Patmos did not write the Gospel of John due to a wide range of differences in eschatology, language, and tone between the two texts.[34]
- John the Presbyter – an obscure early church figure mentioned in the writings of Papias of Hierapolis.
- John the Evangelist – apart from being a potential nickname for any of the figures mentioned above, he could be an otherwise unknown person called John who wrote the Fourth Gospel.
- The Disciple whom Jesus loved (or Beloved Disciple) – an unnamed person referenced several times in the Fourth Gospel itself. Some theologians and scholars have, by way of elimination, identified this disciple as one of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, usually John, son of Zebedee. Other scholars point out that verse 21:24 indicates that the author is someone other than this disciple, and that the author has merely used a (written or oral) report, allegedly from this disciple, as a source for the writing of the Fourth Gospel.[35]
- A hypothetical "Johannine community" – a number of different authors who wrote the Fourth Gospel together, none of whom were necessarily named 'John'.
- An unknown author – some scholars have concluded that, since the Fourth Gospel is anonymous, none of the proposed candidates are plausible (there is no reason to assume he was actually named 'John'), and that because no new evidence is likely to emerge, the real author will remain unknown and unnamed. At most, the author is merely referred to as 'John' (and the Fourth Gospel as 'Gospel of John') for the sake of convention, a placeholder name for an otherwise unknown person.[35]: 31:45
- Lazarus of Bethany
Dating
The Gospel of John is considered to be the last of the four canonical Gospels to be written. Most modern scholars date it to between 90 and 100AD,[36] although a minority suggest an even later date.[37] The Fourth Gospel may also have been written later as it was penned for a smaller group within the Johannine community, and was not circulated widely until a later date.[38] However, claims of authorship that date much later than 100AD have been called into question due to the Rylands Library Papyrus P52, a fragment of the gospel found in Egypt that was probably written around 125AD.[39][40][41]
19th century views
According to Adolf Julicher, K.G. Bretschneider's 1820s work on the topic of Johannine authorship pioneered the modern critical scholarship on this topic.[42] Bretschneider called into question the apostolic authorship of the Gospel, and even stated that, on the basis of the author's unsteady grip of topography, the author could not have come from Palestine.[43] He argued that the meaning and nature of Jesus presented in the Gospel of John was very different from that in the Synoptic Gospels, and thus its author could not have been an eyewitness to the events. Bretschneider cited an apologetic character in John, indicating a later date of composition. Scholars such as Wellhausen, Wendt, and Spitta have argued that the fourth gospel is a Grundschrift or a, "..work which had suffered interpolation before arriving at its canonical form; it was a unity as it stood."[44]
Walter Bauer opened the modern discussion on John with his book Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum.[45] Bauer's thesis is that "the heretics probably outnumbered the orthodox" in the early Christian world and that heresy and orthodoxy were not as narrowly defined as we now define them.[46] He was "convinced that none of the Apostolic Fathers had relied on the authority of the Fourth Gospel. It was the gnostics, the Marcionites, and the Montanists who first used it and introduced it to the Christian community."[47]
John the Apostle
Most scholars conclude that the apostle John, son of Zebedee, wrote none of the Johannine works, including the Gospel of John (that is therefore sometimes referred to as the 'Fourth Gospel' in order to dissociate John from it).[2][4] Various objections to John the Apostle's authorship have been raised:
- The Synoptic Gospels are united in identifying John as a fisherman from Galilee, and Acts 4:13 refers to John as "without learning" or "unlettered".[35]
- The Fourth Gospel is written by someone who, based on their style and knowledge of the Greek language and grammar, would have to have been well-educated in Greek; on the other hand, as an uneducated illiterate Galilean fisherman, John the Apostle would most likely have had Aramaic as his native language, and no knowledge of any other language, let alone the ability to write in the sophisticated Greek of the Fourth Gospel.[35]: 32:41 [48]
- The Fourth Gospel emphasises Judea, and the author seems to have had advanced knowledge of Judean topography, so likely came from there; on the other hand, John the Apostle came from Galilee.[48]
- The Fourth Gospel is a highly intellectual account of Jesus' life and is familiar with Rabbinic traditions of biblical interpretation.[citation needed]
A minority of scholars, mostly Anglo-American ones, continue to support John the Apostle as the author of the Fourth Gospel.[note 1] In favor of the historical and eyewitness character of the Gospel, a few passages are cited.[citation needed] John's chronology for the death of Jesus seems more realistic, because the Synoptic Gospels would have the trial before the Sanhedrin occurring on the first day of the Passover, which was a day of rest.[citation needed]
The question remains why the anonymously written Fourth Gospel was eventually given the title 'the Gospel of John' (or 'the Gospel according to John'), especially because John, son of Zebedee is never even mentioned in the Fourth Gospel.[note 2] This may be due to the fact that John, son of Zebedee, who is one of the most important apostles in the Synoptic Gospels, would otherwise be entirely missing in the Fourth Gospel. However, critical scholars have suggested some other possibilities, as it was common at the time to forge documents in someone else's name, or attribute anonymous works already in circulation to a famous person, for credibility.[49]
The beloved disciple
The phrase
Hugh J. Schonfield, in the controversial The Passover Plot (1965) and other works, saw evidence that the source of this Gospel was the Beloved Disciple of the Last Supper and further that this person, perhaps named John, was a senior Temple priest and so probably a member of the Sanhedrin. This would account for the knowledge of and access to the Temple which would not have been available to rough fishermen and followers of a disruptive rural preacher from the Galilee, one who was being accused of heresy besides, and probably for the evanescent presence of the Beloved Disciple in the events of Jesus' Ministry. On this reading, the Gospel was perhaps written by a student and follower of this disciple in his last years, perhaps at Patmos.[52] Schonfield agrees that the Gospel was the product of the Apostle's great age, but further identifies him as the Beloved Disciple of the Last Supper, and so believes that the Gospel is based on first hand witness, though decades later and perhaps through the assistance of a younger follower and writer, which may account for the mixture of Hebraicisms (from the Disciple) and Greek idiom (from the assistant).[citation needed]
Identification with John the Apostle
Possibly since the end of the first century, the Beloved Disciple has been commonly identified with John the Evangelist.[53] In his early-4th-century Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius wrote 'the apostle and evangelist John, the one whom Jesus loved...'.[54] Objections are raised against the identification of John the Apostle with the "disciple whom Jesus loved", because the latter is not mentioned before the Last Supper.[55] The title ("beloved disciple") is also strange to George Beasley-Murray because "if the beloved disciple were one of the Twelve, he would have been sufficiently known outside the Johannine circle of churches for the author to have named him".[56]
Identifications with others
Parker suggested that this disciple might be John Mark; nonetheless, the Acts of the Apostles indicate that John Mark was very young and a late-comer as a disciple. J. Colson suggested that "John" was a priest in Jerusalem, explaining the alleged priestly mentality in the fourth gospel. R. Schnackenburg suggested that "John" was an otherwise unknown resident of Jerusalem who was in Jesus' circle of friends. The Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary identify Mary Magdalene as the disciple whom Jesus loved, a connection that has been analyzed by Esther de Boer[57] and made notorious in the fictional The Da Vinci Code. Finally, a few authors, such as Loisy and Bultmann and Hans-Martin Schenke, see "the Beloved Disciple" as a purely symbolic creation, an idealized pseudonym for the group of authors.[citation needed]
Filson, Sanders, Vernard Eller, Rudolf Steiner, and Ben Witherington suggest Lazarus, since John 11:3 and 11:36 specifically indicates that Jesus "loved" him.
Johannine community
While evidence regarding the author is slight, some scholars believe this gospel developed from a school or Johannine circle working at the end of the 1st century, possibly in Ephesus.[58][failed verification] This hypothetical group of writers has been termed the Johannine community.[citation needed]
Raymond E. Brown, among others, posit a community of writers rather than a single individual that gave final form to the work.[59] In particular, Chapter 21 is very stylistically different from the main body of the Gospel, and is thought to be a later addition (known as the appendix). Among many Christian scholars the view has evolved that there were multiple stages of development involving the disciples as well as the apostle; Brown (1970) distinguishes four stages of development: traditions connected directly with the apostle, partial editing by his disciples, synthesis by the apostle, and additions by a final editor. At the very least, it seems clear that in chapter 21 someone else speaks in the first person plural ("we"), ostensibly as the voice of a community that believes the testimony of this other person called the "beloved disciple" to be true.[citation needed]
More recently, scholars including Adele Reinhartz and Robert Kysar have challenged the idea of a Johannine community and cite the lack of evidence for such a community.[60]
Possible Gnostic origins
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2021) |
Criticism in the early 20th century centered on the idea of the
Bultmann's analysis is still widely applied in
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran (1946/47–1956) marked a change in Johannine scholarship.[citation needed] Several of the hymns, presumed to come from a community of Essenes, contained the same sort of plays between opposites – light and dark, truth and lies – which are themes within the Gospel. Thus the hypothesis that the Gospel relied on Gnosticism fell out of favor. Many suggested further that John the Baptist himself belonged to an Essene community, and if John the Apostle had previously been a disciple of the Baptist, he would have been affected by that teaching.[citation needed]
The resulting revolution in Johannine scholarship was termed the new look by
Gnosticism scholar Elaine Pagels claimed in 2003 that the author of the Fourth Gospel was a Gnostic, citing similarities with the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Philip.[61] According to Gnosticism scholar Pagels, "Qumran fever" that was raised by the discovery of the Scrolls was gradually dying down, with theories of Gnostic influences in the Johannine works beginning to be proposed again, especially in Germany. Some recent views have seen the theology of Johannine works as directly opposing "Thomas Christians".[61][62] Most scholars, however, consider the Gnosticism question closed.[36][63]
Epistles of John
Most scholars agree that all three letters are written by the same author, although there is debate on who that author is.[6][7][8] These three epistles are similar in terminology, style, and general situation.[58] They are loosely associated with the Gospel of John and may result from that gospel's theology.[58] Internal evidence as well as commentary by Papias and Polycarp suggest that the Johannine epistles originated in Asia Minor.[58] Early references to the epistles, the organization of the church apparent in the text, and the lack of reference to persecution suggests that they were written early in the 2nd century.[58]
First epistle
The phraseology of the first letter of John is very similar to that of the fourth gospel,[64] so the question of its authorship is often connected to the question of authorship of the gospel. The two works use many of the same characteristic words and phrases, such as light, darkness, life, truth, a new commandment, to be of the truth, to do the truth and only begotten son.[65] In both works, the same basic concepts are explored: the Word, the incarnation, the passing from death to life, the truth and lies, etc.[65] The two works also bear many stylistic affinities to one another. In the words of Amos Wilder, the works share "a combination of simplicity and elevation which differs from the flexible discourse of Paul and from the more concrete vocabulary and formal features of the Synoptic Gospels."[66]
Given the similarity with the Gospel, the "great majority" (as of 1957) of critical scholars assign the same authorship to the epistle that they assign to the Gospel.[65] At the end of the 19th century, scholar Ernest DeWitt Burton was able to write that, "the similarity in style, vocabulary and doctrine to the fourth gospel is, however, so clearly marked that there can be no reasonable doubt that the letter and the gospel are from the same pen."[64] Starting with Heinrich Julius Holtzmann, however, and continuing with C. H. Dodd, some scholars have maintained that the epistle and the gospel were written by different authors.[65] There are at least two principal arguments for this view. The first is that the epistle often uses a demonstrative pronoun at the beginning of a sentence, then a particle or conjunction, followed by an explanation or definition of the demonstrative at the end of the sentence, a stylistic technique which is not used in the gospel.[67] The second is that the author of the epistle, "uses the conditional sentence in a variety of rhetorical figures which are unknown to the gospel."[68]
The book was not among those whose canonicity was in doubt, according to Eusebius; however, it is not included in an ancient Syrian canon. Theodore of Mopsuestia also presented a negative opinion toward its canonicity. Outside of the Syrian world, however, the book has many early witnesses, and appears to have been widely accepted.[citation needed]
The First Epistle of John assumes knowledge of the Gospel of John, and some scholars think that the epistle's author might have been the one who redacted the gospel.[58]
Second and third epistles
Book of Revelation
The author of the Book of Revelation identifies himself as "John". The book has been traditionally credited to John the Apostle.
According to
In the 3rd century, Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria rejected apostolic authorship but accepted the book's canonicity. Dionysius believed that the author was another man also named John, John the Presbyter, teacher of Papias, bishop of Hieropolis. Eusebius of Caesarea later agreed with this.[83][84] Because authorship was one of several considerations for canonization, several Church Fathers and the Council of Laodicea rejected Revelation.[85]
Mainstream scholars conclude that the author did not also write the Gospel of John because of wide differences in eschatology, language, and tone.
Another issue arguing against authorship by John the Apostle is that "the apostles" are occasionally mentioned within the work, yet the author never indicates that he is one. Revelation 4 describes a vision of twenty-four elders seated on twenty-four thrones, which is generally assumed to be a reference to Jesus's promise that the twelve disciples would be seated on thrones and judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:28–30). Yet, if the identification of the twenty-four elders as the disciples and the Patriarchs of the twelve tribes is accurate, the author does not mention seeing himself among the elders.[88]
According to the testimony of Irenaeus, Eusebius, and Jerome, the writing of this book took place near the very end of Domitian's reign, around 95 or 96.
See also
Notes
- ^ Leon Morris (1995): "Continental scholars have ... abandoned the idea that this gospel was written by the apostle John, whereas in Great Britain and America scholarship has been much more open to the idea." Abandonment is due to changing opinion rather "than to any new evidence [...] Werner, Colson, and I have been joined, among others, by I. Howard Marshall and J.A.T. Robinson in seeing the evidence as pointing to John the son of Zebedee as the author of this Gospel."[36]
See also:
- F. F. Bruce (1981): "The evidence [...] favor[s] the apostolicity of the gospel [...] John knew the other gospels and ... supplements them [...] The synoptic narrative becomes more intelligible if we follow John." John's style is different so Jesus' "abiding truth might be presented to men and women who were quite unfamiliar with the original setting [...] He does not yield to any temptation to restate Christianity [...] It is the story of events that happened in history [...] John does not divorce the story from its Palestinian context."
- Edwards, R. A. "The Gospel According to St. John" 1954, p 9. One reason he accepts John's authorship is because "the alternative solutions seem far too complicated to be possible in a world where living men met and talked".
- Hunter, A. M. "Interpreting the New Testament" P 86. "After all the conjectures have been heard, the likeliest view is that which identifies the Beloved Disciple with the Apostle John.
- Dr. Craig Blomberg, cited in Lee Strobel The Case for Christ, 1998, Chapter 2.
- Marshall, Howard. "The Illustrated Bible Dictionary", ed J. D. Douglas et al. Leicester 1980. II, p 804
- Robinson, J. A. T. "The Priority of John" P 122
- ^ The name "John" occurs 23 times the Fourth Gospel, but in none of these cases the name refers to a disciple of Jesus. 19 of the mentions refer to John the Baptist (verses 1:6, 1:15, 1:19, 1:26, 1:28, 1:32, 1:35, 1:40, 3:23, 3:24, 3:25, 3:26, 3:27, 4:1, 5:33, 5:35, 5:36, 10:40, and 10:41); the 4 remaining instances refer to the father of Simon Peter (verses 1:42, 21:15, 21:16, and 21:17). Verse 21:2 does mention 'the sons of Zebedee' in passing amongst a group of 7 disciples, without mentioning how many sons there were, or what their personal names were.
References
- ^ F. L. Cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 45
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87484-696-6.
Although ancient traditions attributed to the Apostle John the Fourth Gospel, the Book of Revelation, and the three Epistles of John, modern scholars believe that he wrote none of them.
- ^ Lindars, Edwards & Court 2000, p. 41.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8146-5999-1.
- ISBN 978-0-87484-472-6. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
- ^ ISBN 9781433530814.
- ^ ISBN 9780814612835.
- ^ ISBN 9781467422321.
- S2CID 216330794.
- ^ Ehrman, pp. 178–9.
- ISBN 0-385-24767-2.
- ISBN 0-19-515462-2.
- ^ John 3:8
- ^ John 10:7–9
- ^ John 14:6
- ^ Polycarp at NTCanon.org
- ^ Justin Martyr at NTCanon.org
- ^ Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.39.4-6
- Adversus haereses3.11 = Eusebius Historia ecclesiastica 5.8.4
- ^ Helmut Koester. Ancient Christian Gospels. Harrisburg, PA.: Trinity Press. 1990. p. 246
- ^ Don Barker, "The Dating of New Testament Papyri," New Testament Studies 57 (2011), 571-582.
- ^ Eusebius Pamphilius, Church History 14.2 http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.xi.xiv.html
- ^ Origen, Commentary on John 10.4.6.
- ^ Metzger, Bruce M. The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance. Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1987: p. 131.
- ^ Craig Keener, A Gospel of John: A Commentary Volume 1, (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003), 93.
- ^ Craig Keener, A Gospel of John: A Commentary Volume 1, (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003), 93 notes that, "Earliest Christian tradition seems to have exercised some ambivalence towards this Gospel, however; it is not recognized in the Roman fathers until the late second century." Keener also notes that "it is possible that he [Justin Martyr] cites instead an agraphon from pre-Johannine tradition or a subsequent tradition based on John."
- ^ C.H. Dodd, Historical tradition in the Fourth Gospel, (Cambridge: University Press, 1963), 13; J.W. Pryor, "Justin Martyr and the Fourth Gospel," Second Cent 9, no. 3 (1992): 153–169; Keener, The Gospel of John, 94 notes in one of the footnotes something quite interesting, "Although the analogy carries little weight, my first book cited Matthew over 150 times, Luke 13 times, 1 Peter 9 times, and John twice, though John was my dissertation area."
- ^ Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (Philadelphia: 1971), 206
- ^ Keener, The Gospel of John, 94; see also John Kysar, "The Gospel of John," in Anchor Bible Commentary David Noel Freedman eds., (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 912 notes that, "In its defense against Gnosticism the Church embraced the Gospel of John and attempted to demonstrate that the gospel affirmed the 'Orthodox Christian faith.' The affiliation of the gospel with gnostic Christian beliefs led some, however, to reject it along with Revelation, as Irenaeus witnesses (haer. 3.2.12
- ^ Hippolytus. Wikisource. . Translated by John Henry MacMahon – via
- ^ Against Heresies 1.9.2., see
- ^ Fragments of Heracleon's Commentary on John can be found here
- S2CID 163661026.
- ^ a b c d "Revelation, Book of." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
- ^ a b c d Bart D. Ehrman (2002). "8: John: Jesus the Man from Heaven". The New Testament. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8028-2504-9, pp. 4–5, 24, 35–7
- ^ Robert M. Grant, The Fourth Gospel and the Church, The Harvard Theological Review 35, no. 2 (April 1942): 94 suggests that, "John's very divergence from the synoptics had already led to is relatively slower reception in the broader church until it could be explained in relation to them."
- ^ Robert M. Grant, The Fourth Gospel and the Church, The Harvard Theological Review 35, no. 2 (April 1942): 94 notes also that "our early second-century papyrus fragment P52, discovered in Egypt, probably limits the value of this second proposal ... However much the Fourth Gospel may have been directed toward a specific historical situation, it was only a matter of time before it began to circulate beyond its originally intended readership."
- ^ Robert M. Grant, The Fourth Gospel and the Church, The Harvard Theological Review 35, no. 2 (April 1942): 94 Nevertheless, most biblical scholars continue to favour the earlier dating, though the possibility of a later date is not entirely discounted; John Rylands Library continues to maintain Roberts's assessment of the date of 52, that it "may with some confidence be dated in the first half of the second century A.D."
- ^ "St John Fragment". John Rylands University Library. Archived from the original on 10 October 2010.
- ^ The date is given as c. 125 in standard reference works.
- ^ Adolf Julicher, An Introduction to the New Testament, (New York: Smith, Elder, and co., 1904), 399 notes: "Ever since, in 1820, Prof. K.G. Bretschneider brought forward strong reasons for declaring it impossible to conceive the Fourth Gospel as the work of an Apostle, the dispute as to whether the tradition was right or wrong has become ever keener."
- ^ James Moffatt, "Ninety Years After: A survey of Bretschneider's 'Probabilia' in the Light of Subsequent Johannine Criticism," The American Journal of Theology 17, no. 3 (July 1913), 371: "..the opening chapter of Bretschneider is occupied with an incisive discussion of the differences between the synoptic and the Johannine conceptions of Jesus, and it concludes by depreciating the speeches of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel as unworthy of historical credence. Their style, says Bretschneider, is unlike the direct, simple utterances of the synoptic Jesus."
- ^ James Moffatt, "Ninety Year After: A survey of Bretschneider's 'Probabilia' in the Light of Subsequent Johannine Criticism," The American Journal of Theology 17, no. 3 (July 1913), 370
- ^ The English version of this text can be found at Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (Philadelphia: 1971)
- ^ Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (Philadelphia: 1971), 194; Charles E. Hill, The Johannine Corpus in the Early Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 13 notes, however, that "Bauer's thesis has certainly been challenged by later scholars, and even his heirs today would not accept his theories without significant modifications. Nevertheless, as a grand, organizing principle for understanding the spread of Christianity in the second century, his approach has retained much of its force among scholars, particularly since the appearance of the English translation of the book decades later in 1971.
- ^ Charles E. Hill, The Johannine Corpus in the Early Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 15
- ^ ISBN 9780802822185. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
- ISBN 9780062078636. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
- ^ John 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, 21:20
- ^ Bart D. Ehrman (2002). "5: The Birth of the Gospels". The New Testament. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-85230-836-0.
- ISSN 0022-5185.
- ^ Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History Book 3. Chapter 23. Quote: 'At that time the apostle and evangelist John, the one whom Jesus loved,...'
- ^ Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of John: Volume One. p. 84 notes, "One could argue that the beloved disciple is not one of the Twelve because he is not mentioned by the 'beloved disciple' until the last discourse and passion narrative (one could also use this to separate sections of the gospels into sources)." See also Robert Kysar, John, the maverick Gospel, (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1976), 919
- ^ Keener, The Gospel of John: Volume 1, 84; See also George Beasley-Murray, John, (Waco: Word Books, 1987), lxxiii
- ISBN 0-06-072791-8
- ^ a b c d e f "biblical literature". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 8 July 2010.
- ^ Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John, (Garden City: Doubleday, 1966), chapter 11.
- .
- ^ ISBN 0-375-70316-0, pp 115–117.
– See also the response at Sophia De Morgan. "Beyond Credibility: A Critical Review of Elaine Pagels' Beyond Belief". Answering Infidels. Archived from the original on 14 May 2006. - ^ Riley, Gregory J., 1995. Resurrection Reconsidered: Thomas and John in Controversy. Minneapolis.
- ^ Dr. Craig Blomberg, cited in Lee Strobel The Case for Christ, 1998, Chapter 2.
- ^ S2CID 145739378.
- ^ a b c d Wilder, Amos (1957). "Introduction to the First, Second, and Third Epistles of John". In Harmon, Nolan (ed.). The Interpreter's Bible. Vol. 12. Abingdon Press. p. 214.
- ^ Wilder 1957, pp. 214–215.
- ^ Wilder 1957, p. 211
- ^ C. H. Dodd, "The First Epistle of John and the Fourth Gospel," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, XXI (1937)
- ISBN 9780814659731.
- ^ Eusebius: The Church History
- ^ "24. 2 John: Introduction, Argument, and Outline". Retrieved 18 August 2017.
- Eerdmans Publishing Company(January 1991) pg. 25
- ^ Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 81.4
- ISBN 080103468X.
- ^ Against Heresies iv. 20. 11
- ^ Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? xlii
- ^ On Prescription Against Heretics 36
- ^ Treatise on Christ and Antichrist xxxvi
- ^ New American Bible: Revelation
- )
- ^ S. Giversen. Apocryphon Johannis Copenhagen: 1963 p. 49
- CCEL.org
- ^ Eusebius: Church History (Book VII), Chapter 25
- ^ Euserbius: Church History (Book III, Chapter 39)
- ^ The Book of Revelation by Robert H. Mounce. pp. 23–24
- ^ Ehrman 2004, p. 467ff
- ^ John, the Son of Zebedee By R. Alan Culpepper, pp. 98–102
- ^ Ehrman, Bart (17 July 2021). "The Historical Background to the Book of Revelation". Retrieved 21 July 2021.
Sources
- Koester, Craig R. (2015). Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. ISBN 9780300216912.
- Lindars, Barnabas; Edwards, Ruth; Court, John M. (2000). The Johannine Literature. A&C Black. ISBN 978-1-84127-081-4.
Bibliography
- ISBN 9781139054836.
- Black, C. Clifton; Smith, D. Moody; Spivey, Robert A., eds. (2019) [1969]. "John: The Gospel of Jesus' Glory". Anatomy of the New Testament (8th ed.). S2CID 242455133.
- de Boer, Martinus C. (2018). "The Story of the Johannine Community and its Literature". In de Boer, Martinus C.; S2CID 189193694.
- Byers, Andrew J. (2017). "The Johannine Vision of Community: Trends, Approaches, and 'Narrative Ecclesiology'". Ecclesiology and Theosis in the Gospel of John. ISBN 9781316823750.
- Doole, J. Andrew (March 2021). "To Be 'An Out-of-the-Synagoguer'". S2CID 228846103.
- Ferreira, Johan (1998). Johannine Ecclesiology. The Library of New Testament Studies. LCCN 98156774.
- Hill, Charles E. (2005). "Part III: The Evidence for a Johannine Corpus". The Johannine Corpus in the Early Church. OCLC 475098055.
- ISBN 9780199645831.
- Méndez, Hugo (March 2020). "Did the Johannine Community Exist?". S2CID 216330794.
- Ong, Hughson T. (2015). "The Gospel from a Specific Community but for All Christians: Understanding the Johannine Community as a "Community of Practice"". In ISSN 2214-2800.
- ISBN 9781444318937.
- S2CID 171267332.
External links
- John 21:20-24 at Bible Gateway, or the same passage in English (NIV). (Other texts, the other passages mentioned, and other translations are also available at the same site.)
- Discussion of the view that John the Apostle did not write the book (and links to related material) at Early Christian Writings.
- New Catholic Encyclopedia article
- Orthodox Church of America's take