The Fourth Gospel is at the same time a sublime work that has inspired and enriched the faith of countless Christians and a problematic text that has provided potent anti-Jewish imagery exploited in anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic discourse over the course of two millennia. The Fourth Gospel contains approximately 70 references to hoi ioudaioi, a designation most often (and best) translated as "the Jews." Several of these references are neutral or descriptive, referring to Jewish festivals or specific practices, and some depict individual Jews or Jewish groups as interested in Jesus' message. The vast majority, however, express a negative or even hostile stance towards the Jews. These passages express several themes that became central to Christian anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic discourse. These include the charge of deicide - killing God - and the claim that the Jews have the devil as their father (8:44). The essays in this book address both the Gospel's stance towards the Jews and the Gospel's impact on Jewish-Christian relations from antiquity to the present day, in a range of media, including sermons, iconography, art, music, and film. A short volume of collected essays cannot hope to address the full history of the Fourth Gospel's impact on Jewish-Christian relations. Nevertheless, it is hoped that this volume will contribute to the efforts of Christians and Jews alike to find ways to appreciate what is good and life-affirming about the Gospel of John, while also acknowledging the damaging impact of its portrayal of Jews as the children of Satan and the killers of Christ. Only when Christians disavow this portrayal can the Gospel of John continue to be a true source of inspiration and perhaps even a path forward in the relationships between Jews and Christians in the modern world.

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, especially 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.

Cornelis Bennema presents a new theory of characterization in the New Testament literature. Although character has been the subject of focused literary-critical study of the New Testament (and a point of connection with "character ethics") since the 1970s, Cornelis Bennema observes that there is still no consensus regarding how characterization should be understood in contemporary literary theory or in biblical studies. Many New Testament scholars seem to presume that characters in Greco-Roman literature are two-dimensional, "Aristotelian" figures, unlike the well-rounded, psychologized individuals who appear in modern fiction. They continue nevertheless to apply contemporary literary theory to characters in ancient writings. Bennema here offers a full, comprehensive, and non-reductionist theory for the analysis, classification, and evaluation of characters in the New Testament.

The essays in this volume from the 2017 session of the Colloquium Ioanneum in Jerusalem treat aspects of John 2:23-5:18, employing a variety of methods. These early chapters present interpreters with a challenging series of issues, including the strategy of revelation in John 3-4, the characterization of Nicodemus, the only references to the kingdom of God in John, Jesus' role as Son of Man, the erga concept in the Fourth Gospel and the references to John's baptism and Jesus' baptism, the background and universal program of the narrative of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, the universal program in John 4, and the harvest proverbs in John 4:35-38. The last two essays explore the characterization of the royal official in John 4:46-54 and the evidence for associating the Pool of Bethzatha with healing. The essays demonstrate the astuteness of an observation made by Adele Reinhartz: the closer we look at a text the more it "pixilates" and the more open to interpretation it becomes.

The highly popular Sheffield New Testament Guides are being reissued in a new format, grouped together and prefaced by one of the best known of contemporary Johannine scholars. This new format is designed to ensure that these authoritative introductions remain up to date and accessible to seminary and university students of the New Testament while offering a broader theological and literary context for their study. Alan Culpepper introduces the Johannine Writings as a whole, illuminating their distinctive historical and theological features and their importance within the New Testament canon.

A collection of essays on John 6 illustrating various current approaches to biblical interpretation. To understand this chapter, one must deal with most of the issues that confront serious readers of the Fourth Gospel. Historical issues and questions regarding the composition of the Gospel, the nature of the Johannine community, the literary design of the Gospel and its theology all come to focus in a unique way in John 6. The essays in this volume are written by ten of the leading Johannine scholars in America, Australia, Europe and Scandinavia. The collection, therefore, provides an overview of current Johannine scholarship and a showcase for the various methodologies now being used in Gospel studies.

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 essays in this volume provide significant insights into both the Gospel and current Johannine scholarship. The beginning of John's narrative presents interpreters with tantalizing issues. The elusive narrator introduces the witness of the Baptist, then leaves the scene. What is the function of the Isaianic quotation? What is the role of purification in John, the identity of the unnamed disciple, the meaning of the title, "the lamb of God," the "greater things" Jesus promises the disciples will see, the role of the ascending and descending angels, or Jesus' curt response to his mother? Some of the essays ask how scenes in these chapters would have been read in Ephesus: the story of the wedding at Cana, or the story of Jesus' prophetic demonstration in the temple. The latter plays a strategic role in the imagery and theology of the Gospel. These essays also illustrate how, while the Gospel creatively develops and recasts traditional material, it also calls for its readers to actively engage in dialogue with the text.

In this volume, R. Alan Culpepper considers both the Gospel and the Letters of John.

The book begins with a close look at the relationship between John and the Synoptics and a summary of John's distinctive thought and language. The second chapter addresses the fascinating issues regarding the origins of the Gospel and the letters: authorship, sources, and composition. The history of the Johannine community is reviewed in chapter three. Chapter four interprets the plot of the Gospel and prepares the student to read John as literature by providing a brief orientation to narrative criticism.

The fifth chapter turns to more traditional concerns: John as theology. This chapter provides a digest of the Christology, theology, and eschatology of John. The sixth through the eighth chapters, the heart of the book, guide the student through a reading of the Gospel. The ninth chapter serves as an introduction to the Letters, noting especially their relationship to the Gospel. Each letter is treated in turn. The final chapter examines the challenges and potential of the Johannine literature as documents of faith.

"In previous writings Alan Culpepper has shown himself to be one of the best Johannine scholars of our time. He not only conveniently draws together his research but also shows himself to be an excellent teacher." --Raymond E. Brown