Deuteronomy

Gospel of John- Assignment 1

Essay on Introductory Issues.

This essay will show contrasts in views on the Gospel of John regarding authorship,dates, and the relationship between John's Gospel and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Some comparison of thought, concerning composition and life setting, will also be presented.

The majority of the information that we have today, describing the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, is contained in the four Gospels.

The Gospels of Mathew, Mark and Luke, are called the Synoptic Gospels.

The Gospel of John differs in many key areas to the Synoptics,and I will address some differing lines of thought.

The two primary texts I will be using for comparison will be taken from;

1. " An introduction to the New Testament" pages 362--379 titled "The Gospel according to John" by Raymond .E. Brown.

2. "John, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament" pages 1--18 titled "Introduction to the Gospel of John" by Andreas. J. Kostenberger.

Authorship.

Raymond E.Brown contends that John may not have been responsible for all, or parts of the Gospel of John that are available to us today.

He begins by stating that in the last two centuries the "majority of scholars shifted towards the position that John was not authored by an eyewitness"

He also wrote "Accordingly the present Gospel is thought to involve the work of two hands, an evangelist who composed the body of the Gospel,and a redactor who later made additions."

Brown goes on to make a number of statements, some his own thoughts, and some quoting other scholars, which give more indications of his own personal opinion and approach to the matter of authorship.

For example, "...a type of censor added sections..."

" A much more likely supposition is that one who took the trouble to add to the evangelist's work agreed with it substantially and was of the same community of thought."

"...still other scholars (with whom I agree) theorize that the Beloved Disciple was a minor figure during the ministry of Jesus, too unimportant to be remembered in the more official tradition of the Synoptics. But since this figure became important in Johannine community history (perhaps founder of the community), he became the ideal in its gospel picture, capable of being contrasted with Peter, as closer to Jesus in love."

Andreas J. Kostenberger on the other hand, says in his introduction "Very possibly written by John the apostle as the culmination of his long life and ministry( critical and postmodern objections the Gospel's apostolic authorship notwithstanding)..."

Kostenbergers feelings on this matter of authorship are indicated in the emotive

" Despite the massive assault on John's trustworthiness in the wake of the Enlightenment, especially by liberal German scholars, John's Gospel stands today widely rehabilitated as a reliable witness to the life, words and deeds of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Kostenberger does attempt to "balance" things a little by later stating " As to authorship, all options, including apostolic authorship, must remain on the table, without undue dogmatism on all sides."

A little further on Kostenberger writes " Althought the hypothesis of the apostolic authorship of the Fourth Gospel is regularly rejected in recent Johannine scholarship, the hypothesis has never been decisively refuted and continues to be at least as plausible as alternative explanations"

I apprecciate the way he has worded the last two statements, as Kostenberger has stated his case , but also makes it clear that he wishes the dialogue regarding authorship to continue.

Dates:

Raymond E. Brown makes opening comments about the authorship of John's Gospel being in question. He contends that because of the authorship being questioned,

then the date of writing/historicity, cannot be determined either.

"Accordingly the majority of scholars shifted towards the position that John was not authored by an eye witness."

Brown goes on to say "I shall now present a reconstruction of the community history, warning that while it explains many factors in the Gospel, it remains a hypothesis and "perhaps" needs to be added to every sentence".

This is about as clear as Brown will be drawn on the issue of dates.

Kostenberger states in the opening paragraph "Very possibly written by John the apostle as the culmination of his long life and ministry...." ,thereby giving an indication of where he thinks the dates of authorship lay.

He also stated that Johns' Gospel "...coheres with what we know about early Christianity and its environment

during the second half of the first century A.D."

It appears to me that Brown does not commit to specifics, and whilst Kostenberger also does not specify dates, he does favour the latter half of the first century A.D. as the likely date for authorship.

Composition/Life Setting:

Brown suggests 4 phases to his reconstruction of life setting.

1. "In or near Palestine, Jews of relatively standard expectations,including followers of John the Baptist,accepted Jesus as the Davidic Messiah ,the fulfiller of prophecies,and one confirmed by miracles."

2. "To these first followers were added Jews of an anti-temple bias who made converts in Samaria.They understood Jesus primarily against a Mosaic background." (I have abbreviated the next two comments of Brown,but have listed the footnotes for the full quote.)

3. The acceptance of this second group led to debates with Jews who thought that Johannine christians were making another God out of Jesus and abandoning traditional Jewish monotheist beliefs.