The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus

The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus PDF Author: Paul N. Anderson
Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark
ISBN: 9780567033307
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
This book engages critically one of the most pervasive sets of assumptions within modern biblical studies: namely, that because John is theological and different from the Synoptics, it cannot be historical - nor does it contribute anything of substance to the quest for the historical Jesus. Part I develops a brief history of the debate. Part II assesses critically the strengths and weaknesses of six planks comprising the foundation for two major platforms. The first involves 'the de-historicization of John', the second 'the de-Johannification of Jesus'. Part III takes on centrally the question of how John's tradition may have developed in ways that are largely autonomous and individuated, but also holding open the possibility of contact with parallel gospel traditions. Part IV develops the particular contributions made by the Synoptics to the historical investigation of Jesus, and likewise those made by the Johannine tradition. Part V then develops an array of implications emerging from the present study, sketching trajectories for further investigation and paths of extended inquiry. While this approach may be mistaken as an appeal for the traditional view or a post-modern exploration, it is neither. It intends to be a critical analysis of the so-called 'critical consensus' on John's historicity and expulsion from historical Jesus resources. This book could contribute to opening a new approach in Johannine and Jesus studies alike.

The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus

The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus PDF Author: Paul N. Anderson
Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark
ISBN: 9780567033307
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book

Book Description
This book engages critically one of the most pervasive sets of assumptions within modern biblical studies: namely, that because John is theological and different from the Synoptics, it cannot be historical - nor does it contribute anything of substance to the quest for the historical Jesus. Part I develops a brief history of the debate. Part II assesses critically the strengths and weaknesses of six planks comprising the foundation for two major platforms. The first involves 'the de-historicization of John', the second 'the de-Johannification of Jesus'. Part III takes on centrally the question of how John's tradition may have developed in ways that are largely autonomous and individuated, but also holding open the possibility of contact with parallel gospel traditions. Part IV develops the particular contributions made by the Synoptics to the historical investigation of Jesus, and likewise those made by the Johannine tradition. Part V then develops an array of implications emerging from the present study, sketching trajectories for further investigation and paths of extended inquiry. While this approach may be mistaken as an appeal for the traditional view or a post-modern exploration, it is neither. It intends to be a critical analysis of the so-called 'critical consensus' on John's historicity and expulsion from historical Jesus resources. This book could contribute to opening a new approach in Johannine and Jesus studies alike.

Jesus the Purifier

Jesus the Purifier PDF Author: Craig L. Blomberg
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 1493439960
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
The third quest for the historical Jesus has reached an impasse. But a fourth quest is underway--one that draws from a heretofore largely neglected source: John's Gospel. In this book, renowned New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg advances the idea that John is a viable and valuable source for studying the historical Jesus. The data from John should be integrated with that of the Synoptics, which will yield additional insights into Jesus's emphases and ministry. Blomberg begins by reviewing the first three quests, reassessing both their contributions and their shortcomings. He then discusses the emerging consensus regarding demonstrably historical portions of John, which are more numerous than usually assumed. Peeling back the layers, we discover in Jesus's ministry an emphasis on purity and purification. The Synoptics corroborate this discovery, specifically in Jesus's meals with sinners. Blomberg then explores the practical and contemporary applications of Jesus the purifier, including the "contagious holiness" that Jesus's followers can spread to others.

Theology and History in the Fourth Gospel

Theology and History in the Fourth Gospel PDF Author: Jörg Frey
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781481310345
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
The Fourth Gospel is deeply shaped by its remarkably high Christology. It depicts the earthly Jesus, the incarnate one, as fully divine. This unrelenting Christology has led interpreters, both ancient and modern, to question the historical value of John's Gospel. For many, the Gospel is just theology. It is to the vexed relationship between history and theology that Jörg Frey turns in Theology and History in the Fourth Gospel. John's theological obsession with Christology might suggest that history counts for little in the Gospel. But, as Frey argues, the Gospel's clear and central claim is that John narrates the story of Jesus of Nazareth, his ministry, and his death, as "factual," and that this narrated "history" is foundational for the Christian message. Frey traces the Gospel's use of the available historical tradition by chiefly drawing from Mark and the Johannine community. Even if the Gospel of John used this received witness in a remarkably free manner, replotting and renarrating traditional episodes and even creatively staging new episodes, Frey contends that the historical life and person of Jesus remain central to John's enterprise. In the end, Frey warns that Johannine interpretation will miss the intention of the Gospel and the interpretive perspective of the evangelist if it remains preoccupied merely with questions of historical accuracy. The interpretive goal is to "let John be John," and, as Frey shows, readers will always yield to the priority of theology over history in the Fourth Gospel. In John's telling of the Christ story, the significance of history lies precisely in its disclosure of theological meaning, just as the significance of the historical Jesus is only understood in the theological language of Christology.

The Quest of the Historical Jesus

The Quest of the Historical Jesus PDF Author: Albert Schweitzer
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 9781451403541
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 612

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Book Description
This groundbreaking work, which established the reputation of Albert Schweitzer as a theologian, traces the search for the historical figure of Jesus (apart from the Christ of faith) and establishes the author's own views.

The Composition and Order of the Fourth Gospel

The Composition and Order of the Fourth Gospel PDF Author: Dwight Moody Smith
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 149828115X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
In The Composition and Order of the Fourth Gospel D. Moody Smith engages the masterful commentary on John by Rudolf Bultmann, evaluating critically his views of John's sources, order, redaction, and meaning. A book every bit as helpful for understanding Bultmann's work as the work itself, this book is now made accessible in paperback form fifty years after its original publication. Introduced admirably with a new foreword by the author's former doctoral student, R. Alan Culpepper, the printing of this monograph makes for essential reading in Johannine studies and New Testament studies overall.

Behind the Fourth Gospel

Behind the Fourth Gospel PDF Author: Barnabas Lindars
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1608997308
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 85

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Book Description
The effort to get behind the fourth gospel is no mere literary-critical game. The value we place upon it is inseparable from the way in which we understand its origins. The true relation to the Gospel to the beginnings of Christianity remains unsettled question of New Testament scholarship. Barnabas Lindars discusses the attempts to identify continuous sources, among them the discourse source emphasized by Bultmann, and the signs source recently reconstructed by R. T. Fortna. A more promising approach, he thinks, lies in considering John's technique as a writer who builds upon the primitive tradition--first in the discourses, then when miracle stories are used in conjunction with discourse, then in extended narrative. This provides the vantage point for a survey of the Gospel as a whole, from which its unknown author emerges as essentially a preacher, who presents the authentic challenge of the message of Jesus in a work of immense creative skill and compelling theological power.

John, Jesus, and History, Volume 1

John, Jesus, and History, Volume 1 PDF Author: Paul N. Anderson
Publisher: Society of Biblical Lit
ISBN: 1589832930
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
Over the last two centuries, many scholars have considered the Gospel of John off-limits for all quests for the historical Jesus. That stance, however, creates a new set of problems that need to be addressed thoughtfully. The essays in this book, reflecting the ongoing deliberations of an international group of Johannine and Jesus scholars, critically assess two primary assumptions of the prevalent view: the dehistoricization of John and the de-Johannification of Jesus. The approaches taken here are diverse, including cognitive-critical developments of Johannine memory, distinctive characteristics of the Johannine witness, new historicism, Johannine-Synoptic relations, and fresh analyses of Johannine traditional development. In addition to offering state-of-the-art reviews of Johannine studies and Jesus studies, this volume draws together an emerging consensus that sees the Gospel of John as an autonomous tradition with its own perspective, in dialogue with other traditions. Through this challenging of critical and traditional assumptions alike, new approaches to John’s age-old riddles emerge, and the ground is cleared for new and creative ways forward.

Revelation in the Fourth Gospel: And Eight Johannine Essays

Revelation in the Fourth Gospel: And Eight Johannine Essays PDF Author: Gail R. O'Day
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725277379
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
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.

The Quest of the Historical Jesus

The Quest of the Historical Jesus PDF Author: Albert Schweitzer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description


The Fourth Gospel in Four Dimensions

The Fourth Gospel in Four Dimensions PDF Author: Dwight Moody Smith
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 9781570037634
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
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.