A Journey Round John

About this book

In A Journey Round John, Wendy E. S. North considers a range of themes relevant to the interpretation of the Fourth Gospel. First, she examines the relationship between the Gospel and 1 John, exploring the value of the Epistle as a means of identifying traditional material the evangelist knew; on this basis, she appeals to 1 John to account for the form of Jesus' prayer in chapter 11. Second, she addresses John's Christology, looking to John's cultural roots in monotheistic Judaism to understand his capacity to align Jesus with God. Third, she tackles the crucial issue of 'the Jews' in John, clarifying the data by observing a narrative logic in John's use of the expression. Fourth, she identifies John's 'anticipated' eschatology as a consolation strategy aimed at a readership struggling under life-threatening circumstances in the absence of Jesus. Finally, she considers John and the Synoptics, demonstrating how evidence drawn from the Gospel itself can serve to indicate whether or not John composed directly on the basis of the Synoptic record.