The Gospel of John in the light of The Message Rediscovered (original) (raw)

The Beginning of the Gospel of St. John: Philosophical Perspectives, New York: Peter Lang Publishers

1992

The question of how to read the Bible is a perennial one. How do we interpret the God who claims to transcend our human categories? The difficulty is particularly acute in John's Gospel with its account of a man, Jesus, who claims to be God. Based on the principle that a text can present the radically transcendent only by disrupting itself, this book considers not just the sense of the Gospel, but also the breakdown of this sense. Focusing on its failure to humanly locate its central character and on the many misunderstandings which surround him, it presents a new approach to the Gospel's paradoxes. The result is a new definition of this sacred text based on a new hermeneutics.

Bernard, J.H. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel Of St.John. Vol.2

The International Critical Commentary on the Holy Scriptures edited by: Briggs, Charles Augustus; Driver, Samuel Rolles; Plummer, Alfred; Brown, Francis, 1929

Part of the International Critical Commentary. The author is John Henry Bernard, (27 July 1860 – 29 August 1927). He was an Irish Anglican clergyman. As far as I know this book is in the public domain and I freely publish it here for people who search for a free but older commentary on the Gospel of John. It is also available in archive.org in many other formats. Published in 1929 by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

Bernard, J.H. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel Of St.John. Vol.1

The International Critical Commentary on the Holy Scriptures edited by: Briggs, Charles Augustus; Driver, Samuel Rolles; Plummer, Alfred; Brown, Francis, 1929

The Gospel of John: A Universalistic Reading

The Gospel of John: A Universalistic Reading, 2020

A Brief Review of the Book The Fourth Gospel functions as a literary masterpiece that facilitates a narrative beyond the time and space aspects. The Gospel's linguistic phenomena and stylistic aspects are peculiar as they attune the attention of the reader toward a dramatic and ideological world of its own. The connection between the narrator and the historical/implied/contemporary reader is established from an eternal vantage point as the narrator directs the reader toward atemporal and universal realities. The author as a classicist encompasses the socio-cultural and religio-political realities of the Greco-Roman world, incorporates the hope of the Jewish society, foregrounds the contextual realities and the struggles of the Johannine community, and fulfils the various demands and requirements of the future generations of readers and believers. The peculiar linguistic and idiosyncratic techniques of the narrator have the power to absorb the attention of the reader not only from a 'there and then' and 'here and now' senses but also from an 'everywhere and ever' perspective. In that sense, the Fourth Gospel functions as a gnomic and universalistic artistry. John's Gospel can be considered as a commentary in its own terms. The extended episodes of the Fourth Gospel, different from the Synoptic style of pericopes, foreground the ideas of the author through the exchange and episode developments. The Logos-Christology and the poetic demonstration of the coming of Jesus (1:1-18) reveal its universalistic aspects. John interprets history in the form of a quasi-poem, an interpretation, or ultimately a commentary in its own way. This style of the Gospel is designed with a gnomic perspective. The Fourth Gospel's 'vertical' and 'realizing' eschatology and the 'ever-continuing' present aspect support its gnomic and universalistic development. The Gospel's pre-existent Christology and the emphasis on life/eternal life take the reader's attention toward the everlasting perspective. The maxims like the "I AM Sayings" and the symbolic presentation of the Signs attune the attention of the reader toward the universal significance of the Gospel. The narrator and the implied reader dynamism of the text enable the modern reader to understand the narrative world of the gospel. The contemporary readers find the unique dynamism of the text as an interpretative means to get engaged with the text. The purpose statement of the Gospel (20:30-31; cf. 21:25) makes the implied reader aware of the logic behind all the events and the coherence of the discourses units. The narrator is fully concerned to inspire readers in/with the text to believe/continue to believe in Jesus that he is the Messiah and the Son of God and that through believing they may receive 'eternal life' and be saved. Thus from the soteriological point of view, the Gospel promises eternal guarantee and protection. The dialogues as active voice and direct speech units influence the reader to be a 'believer' and to be saved. This feature of the dialogue enables it to be a performative act in itself. It provides pleasure to the reader and helps her/him to be persuaded, provoked and transformed. Thus the text works with all the characteristic features of rhetoric. The text, in that sense, cannot be reckoned as a 'passive' treatise rather as an 'active' counterpart to the modern reader. It happens only when the narrator takes extra effort to tell the story dramatically through the means of showing and telling (cf. Quintilian, Inst

The Theology of the Gospel of John

The Gospel of John differ markedly from the other Gospels of the New Testament. His personality, milieu and peculiarity of his location must have coulured his presentation of the Jesus event. Here we glance through John's understanding of the salvation wrought by Christ, it's effect and continuity in the Church

The Gospel of John in the light of The Message Rediscovered (original) (raw)

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