Professor Pollard attempts to show how the early Church interpreted the Gospel of John and its witness to the person of Christ. The two paradoxes implicit in John's theology - the distinction between the Father and the Son in the unity of the Godhead, and the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ - were developed in varying ways and the resultant heresies arose from attempts to deny one element or the other in each paradox. In their refutation of the heresies, on the other hand, the Fathers struggled to keep both elements of the paradoxes in equipoise. The different traditions came into conflict in the controversy which raged around the figure of Arius and his supporters in the fourth century, of which the climax came in the debate about the views of Marcellus of Ancyra.

Johannine Christology explores the formation of Christology in the Fourth Gospel, the Hellenistic and Jewish contexts, the literary character of these writings, and Christology’s application for various audiences.

"In this volume some of the most prominent international biblical and theological scholars suggest new and exciting ways of understanding the Christology of every major witness in the New Testament canon. Along with essays addressing the significance of Christology for systematic theology, ethics, pastoral ministry, and preaching, the volume offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the New Testament."--BOOK JACKET.

The Gospel of John in Modern Interpretation provides a unique look at the lives and work of eight interpreters who have significantly influenced Johannine studies over the last two centuries. The chapters contain short biographical sketches of the scholars that illuminate their personal and academic lives, followed by summaries and evaluations of their major works, and concluding with an analysis of the ongoing relevance of their work in contemporary Johannine scholarship. Key thinkers surveyed include C. H. Dodd, Rudolph Bultmann, Raymond Brown, Leon Morris, and R. Alan Culpepper. An introduction and conclusion by general editors Stanley Porter and Ron Fay trace the development of Johannine scholarship from F. C. Baur to the present, and examine how these eight scholars' contributions to Johannine studies have shaped the field. Anyone interested in the recent history of the study of John will find this volume indispensable.

This important work not only contributes to understanding the origins and character of John's christological tensions, but it also outlines a new set of theories regarding several innovative dialogical approaches to the Johannine text. In his new introduction to this edition, Anderson engages constructively the responses of his reviewers and outlines his own theories regarding John's dialogical autonomy. Posing a comprehensive new synthesis regarding John's composition, situation history, relations to Synoptic traditions, agency Christology, historicity, and theological tensions, Anderson here summarizes his most significant theories published since it first appeared. In so doing, advances suggested by this pivotal text are laid out in a new set of paradigms addressing the Johannine riddles in fuller detail.

The subject of early Christology is at the heart of the Christian faith. Believers in Jesus have been pondering the question that Jesus himself asked his disciples in Caesarea Philippi: "Who do you say that I am?" (Matt 16:15). Scholars have labored for years to answer this question from a variety of perspectives and they've come to some drastically different conclusions. In Christology in Review Nick Norelli collates a number of book reviews on the topic of early Christology that originally appeared on his blog Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. The reviews contained in this volume range in length and focus but they all offer critical interaction with scholarship from one end of the spectrum to the other.

While there are numerous studies of God in the Old Testament, the concept of God has largely been ignored as a subject of inquiry in contemporary New Testament theology. As this superb work by Marianne Meye Thompson shows, however, an understanding of the identity of God is central to the New Testament, particularly to the Gospel of John. Thompson here offers the first comprehensive study of the concept of God in John's Gospel. She shows that one must first grasp the importance of God to John before one can properly appreciate the Gospel's Christology and overarching message. By arguing that John is rightly understood to be a "theocentric" work, Thompson challenges the prevailing theory that John is primarily concerned with Christology. While Thompson uses traditional historical and exegetical approaches to the New Testament and ancient sources, her study is mainly theological in scope. She asks how John portrays God and how, after reading the Gospel, we ought to speak of the identity of God. Unlike many recent studies of John, this one does not try to reconstruct the history behind the text but, rather, tries to fully illumine the theological content of John's message. A seminal study with lasting implications for New Testament theology, The God of the Gospel of John will become a standard text for students of the New Testament.

This book seeks to discuss John's references to Jesus' emotions in the light of the current debate regarding Johannine Christology. The Fourth Gospel refers to Jesus' love, joy, and zeal. At times it also portrays him as troubled, deeply moved, and in tears. Do these expressions of emotion underscore Jesus' humanity or his divinity? The study is set against the background of the emotions of God as found in earlier Jewish literature, as well as against that of the emotions of Jesus in the Synoptics and the remainder of the New Testament. Voorwinde argues that the covenant provides the most consistent perspective for viewing both the emotions of Yahweh in the Old Testament and the emotions of Jesus in the Gospels. The Johannine Jesus is found to fulfil the hitherto incompatible roles of covenant Lord and covenant sacrifice. Rather than being expressive only of his humanity Jesus' emotions are also found to underscore his divinity. This is due to the unique genius of this Gospel with its paradoxical presentation of Jesus whose divinity is manifested most eloquently in his weakness, suffering, and death. Only his tears at the grave of Lazarus can be explained as a human emotion pure and simple. All the other emotions, because of their strong connections to the cross, highlight both Jesus' humanity and divinity, albeit for various reasons and in highly nuanced ways. JSNTS 284>

Examines "christology's"--Or evaluations of Jesus' identity and divinity--based upon his words, his public ministry, and the Resurrection.

D. Moody Smith treats the theology of the Gospel of John in its narrative form and historical context, both ancient Jewish and early Christian. His work draws upon the most recent scholarly investigations of the Gospel's historical purpose and setting. The major theological themes of the Gospel, especially its christology, are treated in relation to the context of the work, since Johannine theology is not simply a by-product of controversies that produced the Gospel, but is rather related to them in significant ways. As Professor Smith shows, John marks an important watershed between Christianity and Judaism. His study will thus serve equally well as an introduction to the question of the origin of John and as an introduction to its theology. It also consistently pays attention to the relationship of the Gospel to other major New Testament witnesses as well as to its important influence upon the development of later Christian doctrine.