The gospel of John’s “from above” orientation transforms our human “from below” assumptions and habits. It draws us into union with God and into unity with one another. It communicates who Jesus is, in both intimate and profound dimensions. The book of John shapes Christian identity, invigorates worship, and implants eternal hope. “John’s gospel defies description,” marvels Swartley, professor emeritus at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. “It soars like the eagle, links heaven and earth, and both comforts and convicts the human heart. Its Christology is rich, with a plethora of titles for Jesus-even the divine eternal I AM.” Though commentaries on the book of John abound, this volume follows the unique Believers Church Bible Commentary Series format, providing sections on The Text in Biblical Context and The Text in the Life of the Church. According to Swartley, this format serves well “the interests of seminary as well as other graduate students, and pastors especially.” Volume 26 in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series. Free downloadable supplement available here.

The essays in this volume, which span four decades, represent sustained reflection on the historical setting, narrative devices, and theology of the Gospel of John. Methodologically, the essays develop a narrative-critical approach to the Gospel, producing insights that have implications for historical and theological issues. Thematically, many of the essays explore the Gospel's ecclesiology, especilly its vision for the church and its mission. As a collection, this volume provides an introduction to the Fourth Gospel, analyses of major issues (including John's anti-Judaism, relationship to 1 John, irony, imagery, creation ethics, evil, and eschatology), and in-depth exploration of key texts, especially John 1:1-18, 2:20; 4:35-38; 5:1-18; 5:21-30; 10:1-18; 12:12-15; 13:1-20; 19:16-30; 20:19-23; and chapter 21.

Recent studies of the Christology of John's Gospel have agreed in recognizing the centrality of the concept of messianism, but differ markedly in their interpretation of its character. Alongside the traditional understanding of messiahship in terms of a kingly role related to that of David, there is a newer understanding that is related to the role of Moses and has little or no Davidic background. Despite the broad scholarly consensus regarding the Johannine connection between crucifixion and messianism, little attention has been paid to the role of crucifixion in relation to the nature of messiahship and in particular to the possibility that this may shed light on whether or not John's messianism is decisively shaped by the kingly or royal background. In The Kingship-Cross Interplay in the Gospel of John Mavis Leung contends that the cross motif plays a major role in authenticating the royal character of messiahship in John over against views that deny or play down this element.

In this book, Wendy E. S. North investigates whether or not the author of John could have crafted his Gospel with knowledge of the Synoptics. Unlike previous approaches, which have usually treated the Gospel according to John purely as a piece of literature, this book undertakes a fresh approach by examining how John’s author reworks material that can be identified within his own text and also in the Jewish Scriptures. An assessment of these techniques allows North then to compare the Gospel of John with its Synoptic equivalents, and to conclude at last that John indeed worked with the knowledge of the Synoptic texts at certain points.

This groundbreaking volume draws together an international group of leading biblical scholars to consider one of the most controversial religious topics in the modern era: Is the Gospel of John—the most theological and distinctive among the four canonical Gospels—historical or not? If not, why does John alone among the Gospels claim eyewitness connections to Jesus? If so, why is so much of John’s material unique to John? Using various methodologies and addressing key historical issues in John, these essays advance the critical inquiry into Gospel historiography and John’s place within it, leading to an impressive consensus and convergences along the way. The contributors are Paul N. Anderson; Mark Appold; Richard Bauckham; Helen K. Bond; Richard A. Burridge; James H. Charlesworth; Jaime Clark-Soles; Mary Coloe; R. Alan Culpepper; Craig A. Evans; Sean Freyne; Jeffrey Paul Garcia; Brian D. Johnson; Peter J. Judge; Felix Just, S.J.; Craig S. Keener; Edward W. Klink III; Craig R. Koester; Michael Labahn; Mark A. Matson; James F. McGrath; Susan Miller; Gail R. O’Day; Bas van Os; Tom Thatcher; Derek M. H. Tovey; Urban C. von Wahlde; and Ben Witherington III.

This study guide introduces gospel of John, also known as the Fourth Gospel, from an ideological perspective. First, Lozada deals with the key historical questions about how we come to understand John's historical identity. Lozada explores debates around how scholars construct a picture of who, where, when, and why John was written helping readers to recognize how scholars construct an historical identity for John. Second, Lozada introduces literary questions related to John such as its structure, plot, and narrative development, showing readers on how an ideological reading is constructed. Finally Lozada devotes three chapters to key ideological themes in the gospel related to otherness, such as the portrayal of women, the Samaritan woman, and “the Jews.”

John's Transformation of Mark brings together a cast of internationally recognised biblical scholars to investigate the relationship between the gospels of Mark and John. In a significant break with the prevailing view that the two gospels represent independent traditions, the contributors all argue that John both knew and used the earlier gospel. Drawing on recent analytical categories such as social memory, 'secondary orality,' or 'relecture,' and ancient literary genres such as 'rewritten Bible' and bioi, the central questions that drive this volume focus on how John used Mark, whether we should speak of 'dependence,' 'familiarity with,' or 'reception,' and whether John intended his work to be a supplement or a replacement of Mark. Together these chapters mount a strong case for a reassessment of one of the key tenets of modern biblical criticism, and open up significant new avenues for further research.

The contribution of the Johannine literature to the development of Christian theology, and particularly to Christology, is uncontested, although careful distinction between the implications of its language, especially that of sonship, in a first century 'Jewish' context and in the subsequent theological controversies of the early Church has been particularly important if not always easily sustained. Recent study has shaken off the weight of subsequent Christian appropriation of Johannine language which has sometimes made readers immune to the ambiguities and challenging tensions in its thought. The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies begins with chapters concentrating on discussions of the background and context of the Johannine literature, leading to the different ways of reading the text, and thence to the primary theological themes within them, before concluding with some discussion of the reception of the Johannine literature in the early church. Inevitably, given their different genres and levels of complexity, some chapters pay most if not all attention to the Gospel, whereas others are more able to give a more substantial place to the letters. All the contributors have themselves made significant contributions to their topic. They have sought to give a balanced introduction to the relevant scholarship and debate, but they have also been able to present the issues from their own perspective. The Handbook will help those less familiar with the Johannine literature to get a sense of the major areas of debate and why the field continues to be one of vibrant and exciting study, and that those who are already part of the conversation will find new insights to enliven their own on-going engagement with these writings.