The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus Modern Foundations Reconsidered

by Anderson, Paul N.

• ISBN13: 9780567033307
• ISBN10: 0567033309
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-12
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T & T Clark

Summary

Engages critically a pervasive set 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 histor

Author Biography

Paul N. Anderson is Professor of Biblical and Quaker Studies at George Fox University, USA. He is a co-chair of the 'John, Jesus, and History' group at the National Society of Biblical Literature meetings, and is co-editing its findings

Table of Contents

Tables	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Foreword	p. xvii
Introduction: John versus Jesus - Modern Foundations of Biblical Scholarship	p. 1
Modern Foundations for the Critical Investigation of John, Jesus and History	p. 7
The Story of John's Historical Marginalization and its Implications	p. 8
The Traditional View and its Development - From Papias (or Luke?) to Schleiermacher	p. 9
Modern Challenges and Advances - From Bretschneider to Bultmann	p. 15
Critiques of Modern Hypotheses - From Neander to Blomberg	p. 21
The Autonomy and Development of the Johannine Tradition - From Gardiner-Smith to Smith	p. 23
Modern Paradigms and Their Adequacy	p. 25
The 'Traditional' View: John's Apostolic Authorship	p. 25
The 'Critical' View: John's Employment of Alien (non-Johannine) Sources	p. 26
Markan-Dependence Theory	p. 28
Midrashic-Development Approaches	p. 30
Historicized-Drama Hypotheses	p. 31
Two Editions of John	p. 32
The History of the Johannine Situation	p. 33
Cognitive Criticism and Traditionsgeschichte	p. 36
The 'Dialogical Autonomy of John' - A New Synthesis Advanced	p. 37
An Autonomous and Developing Tradition	p. 38
The Dialectical Thinking of the Evangelist	p. 38
The History-of-Religions Origin of John's Human-Divine Dialectic	p. 38
Dialogical Engagements in the Johannine Situation	p. 39
A Two-Edition Theory of Composition	p. 39
Aspects of Interfluentiality between John and Other Traditions	p. 40
Revelation and Rhetoric - Dialogical Modes of the Johannine Narrative	p. 41
Findings	p. 41
On Planks and Platforms - A Critical Assessment of Critical Foundations Regarding John, Jesus and History	p. 43
Planks in Platform A: The De-Historicization of John	p. 46
John's Differences with the Synoptics	p. 47
Synoptic Omissions in John	p. 49
Johannine Omissions in the Synoptics	p. 55
The Johannine Jesus Speaks and Acts in the Mode of the Evangelist	p. 58
The Johannine Material is Rendered in Response to the History of the Johannine Situation	p. 63
The Johannine Evangelist Spiritualizes and Theologizes According to his Purposes	p. 68
Planks in Platform B: The De-Johannification of Jesus	p. 74
John's Similarities with the Synoptics - Especially Mark	p. 74
John's Composition: Diachronic or Synchronic?	p. 76
The Lateness of John and Historical Validity	p. 78
Criteria for Determining Historicity	p. 85
The History-of-Religions Background of John	p. 90
Emerging Portraits of Jesus	p. 92
Findings	p. 97
Interfluential, Formative and Dialectical - A Theory of John's Relation to the Synoptics	p. 101
John's Relation to Mark: Interfluential, Augmentive and Corrective	p. 104
John and Mark: An 'Interfluential Set of Relationships' during the Oral Stages of their Respective Traditions	p. 104
John's Augmentation of Mark	p. 107
John's Correcting of Mark?	p. 110
John's Influence upon Luke: Formative, 'Orderly' and Theological	p. 112
John's Formative Influence upon Luke	p. 113
Does John Provide a Basis for Luke's 'Orderly' Account?	p. 114
Did the Johannine Tradition Contribute to Luke's Theology?	p. 115
Acts 4.19-20 - A First-Century Clue to Johannine Authorship?	p. 116
Contacts between John and Q?	p. 117
John's Relation to Matthew: Reinforcing, Dialectical and Corrective	p. 119
Matthean and Johannine Sectors of Christianity: Reinforcing Each Other's Missions and Tasks	p. 119
Dialectical Relations Between Johannine Christianity and Intramural Centralizing Tendencies	p. 120
The Finalized Gospel of John: A Corrective to Rising Institutionalism in the Late First-Century Church	p. 122
Findings	p. 125
Jesus in Bi-Optic Perspective - Contributions to the Jesus Quest from Synoptic and Johannine Sources	p. 127
Dual Attestation - John and the Synoptics	p. 128
Jesus' Association with John the Baptist and the Beginning of his Public Ministry	p. 135
Jesus' Calling of Disciples as a Corporate Venture	p. 136
A Revolt in the Desert?	p. 138
Jesus as a Healer; Healing on the Sabbath	p. 140
Jesus' Sense of Prophetic Agency from the Father and Religious Resistance	p. 141
Jesus' Cleansing of the Temple	p. 142
The Culmination of Jesus' Ministry - his Arrest, Trials and Death in Jerusalem	p. 143
Attestations to Appearances and the Beginning of the Jesus Movement	p. 144
Synoptic Contributions to the Quest for the Jesus of History	p. 145
Jesus' Teachings about the Kingdom of God in Parables and in Short, Pithy Sayings	p. 146
The Messianic Secret and the Hiddenness of the Kingdom	p. 146
Jesus' Healing and Exorcizing Ministries	p. 147
Jesus' Sending out his Disciples to Further the Work of the Kingdom	p. 149
Jesus' Dining with 'Sinners' and Provocations toward Renewal	p. 149
Jesus' Cleansing of the Temple as an Intentional Challenge to the Restricting of Access to God	p. 150
Jesus' Teaching on the Heart of the Law - the Love of God and Humanity	p. 151
Jesus' Apocalyptic Mission	p. 152
Johannine Contributions to the Quest for the Jesus of History	p. 154
Jesus' Simultaneous Ministry alongside John the Baptizer and the Prolific Availability of Purifying Power	p. 154
Jesus' Cleansing of the Temple as an Inaugural Prophetic Sign	p. 158
Jesus' Travel to and from Jerusalem and his Multi-Year Ministry	p. 161
Early Events in the Public Ministry of Jesus	p. 162
Favourable Receptions in Galilee among Samaritans, Women and Gentiles	p. 164
Jesus' Judean Ministry and Archaeological Realism	p. 166
The Last Supper as a Common Meal and its Proper Dating	p. 170
Jesus' Teaching about the Way of the Spirit and the Reign of Truth	p. 171
Findings	p. 173
Modern Foundations Reconsidered - Implications for the Critical Investigation of John, Jesus and History	p. 175
A Sympathetic Note for the Modernist Project	p. 176
Real Problems of Presentation and Interpretation	p. 176
Overstated Claims - In One Direction or Another	p. 177
Enduring Challenges of Supernaturalism for Scientific Inquiry	p. 177
Merited Authority and its Appropriations	p. 179
Critical Analysis as a Way Forward	p. 180
John and the Synoptics - A Nuanced Appraisal of the Bi-Optic Traditions	p. 180
John the Problem; John the Key	p. 181
History and Theology in All Four Traditions	p. 181
A Common Subject; A Diversity of Portraiture	p. 182
A Variety of Presentation; A Coherence of Impression	p. 183
Dialectical Memory and Dialogical Engagement	p. 183
The Dialogical Autonomy of John and Modern Foundations Reconsidered	p. 185
Intra-traditional Reflection - First Impressions and Later Understandings	p. 185
Inter-traditional Engagement - Dialogical Relationships Between Gospel Traditions	p. 186
Cognitive Dialectic - Conjunctive Approaches to Historical and Theological Challenges	p. 187
Dialogical Narrative - Engaging the Reader in an Imaginary Dialogue with One's Subject	p. 188
Dialectical Hermeneutics - An Interdisciplinary Quest for History and Meaning	p. 189
Findings	p. 189
Conclusion: John and the Quest for Jesus - A Nuanced View	p. 191
A Two-Edition Theory of Johannine Composition	p. 193
A Historical Outline of Johannine Christianity	p. 196
Select Bibliography	p. 200
Index of References	p. 215
Index of Authors	p. 225
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