The book deals with the relation between identity, ethics, and ethos in the New Testament. The focus falls on the way in which the commandments or guidelines presented in the New Testament writings inform the behaviour of the intended recipients. The habitual behaviour (ethos) of the different Christian communities in the New Testament are plotted and linked to their identity. Apart from analytical categories like ethos, ethics, and identity that are clearly defined in the book, efforts are also made to broaden the specific analytical categories related to ethical material. The way in which, for instance, narratives, proverbial expressions, imagery, etc. inform the reader about the ethical demands or ethos is also explored.

Jan G. van der Watt analyses in detail the ethics of John's Letters against their respective socio-historical backgrounds. He then compares the ethics of the Gospel and Letters, showing that the basic core narrative overlaps in these writings, although some ethical material is applied in different ways to different situations. A rich ethical landscape is revealed, addressing issues like the importance of inter-personal relations, which results in co-operation through mutual love. The author shows that the focus in 1 John is pastoral, aiming at convincing the addressees not to be deceived by the schismatics but to strengthen their relationship with the eyewitness group. In 2 John, advice is given about visitors who threaten the church with false teachings, while 3 John deals with a conflict about receiving travelling missionaries. In both cases ethical guidelines are given which aim at protecting the group.

Ethics is a neglected field of research in the Gospel and Letters of John. Judgments about even the presence of ethics in the Gospel are often negative, and even though ethics is regarded as one of the two major problem areas focused on in 1 John, the development of a Johannine ethics from the Letters receive relatively little attention. This book aims at making a positive contribution and even to stimulating the debate on the presence of ethical material in the Johannine literature through a series of essays by some leading Johannine scholars. The current state of research is thoroughly discussed and new developments as well as new possibilities for further investigation are treated. By utilizing different analytical categories and methods (such as narratology) new areas of research are opened up and new questions are considered. Therefore, aspects of moral thinking and normative values can be discovered and put together to the mosaic of an "implicit ethics" in the Johannine Writings. More familiar themes like the law or deeds in the Gospel are reconsidered in a new light, while the ethical role of the opponents or the ethical use of Scripture are explored as new avenues for describing the dynamics of ethics in the Gospel. The ethical nature of the Letters is also considered, focusing not only on the theological nature of ethics in the Letters, but also on the ethical impact of some rhetorical material in 1 John. The culminative result of these series of essays is to illustrate that the ethical material in the Gospel is not as absent as was believed by many in the past. The essays not only open up a wider spectrum of Johannine ethical material but also invite further exploration and research in this much neglected area of Johannine studies.

After a century of neglect, Johannine ethics has enjoyed a recent surge in interest inspired by new theoretical insights in analysing ethical data in John's Gospel. By closely re-reading the text on the basis of this fresh research, Jan G. van der Watt's aim in the present volume is to reveal ethical data within its structural interrelatedness. The result is a comprehensive overview of basic questions related to ethics, such as what the basis or source of ethics actually is, whether identity plays a role in ethical decision making, how values and ethical requirements are to be recognised, what is expected of an ethical agent, and what ethical behaviour looks like. As a coherent guide to getting deeds done ethically, this first volume on the grammar of the apostle's ethics focuses on his Gospel, while a second is set to concentrate on his letters.

A key to understanding the Gospel of John is, in many respects, its prologue; yet questions regarding its origin and background, its structure, use of Greek philosophical terms, and indeed its relationship to the rest of the gospel still remain open. The papers in this volume address each of these questions and were presented at the first meeting of the Colloquium Ioanneum, a group of distinguished international Johannine scholars broadly representing different nationalities, religious traditions and approaches to the gospel. The first part offers differing assessments of the background, literary, and theological elements of the prologue, while the second examines presuppositions, methods, and perspectives involved in philosophical interpretation of the Gospel of John.

The Gospel of John is well-known for its wealth and depth of figurative language, metaphors and symbols. These articles, written by some of the leading scholars in Johannine exegesis and particularly in the debate on Johannine imagery, utilize a broad variety of methods of interpretation. The authors provide an in-depth discussion of the variety of terms and forms of figurative speech and explore the conceptual and traditio-historical background of central motifs. Some of the most prominent Johannine images (lamb, king, bread, shepherd, vine, eating and drinking and others) are discussed with regard to their literary design and theological meaning. The collection aims at opening up paths in the tangled thicket of John's figurative world, it amply demonstrates the close relationship between the different metaphors and images in the Fourth Gospel and opens the view to the inter-relatedness of its theological themes.