The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple: Narrative, History,and Theology in the Gospel of John

Abstract

The essays collected in this volume cover a wide variety of aspects of the study of the Gospel of John, but they cohere within an approach to the Gospel that differs very significantly from the approach that has been dominant in Johannine scholarship since the late 1970s, though there are signs that this dominant approach is now being undermined or at least considerably modified by very recent trends in Johannine scholarship. The purpose of this introductory chapter is to relate my essays in this volume to current and recent Johannine scholarship, and also to explain their relationships and coherence within the alternative approach to John that they exemplify.