John, 2 vols. (Reformation Commentary on Scripture | RCS)
Digital Logos Edition
When the Reformers of the sixteenth century turned to the fourth Gospel, they found a multitude of theological treasures: a clear affirmation of the full divinity of Christ; insights into the relationships among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and guidance for the church in their time. For example, John Calvin claimed, “This Gospel is a key to open the door for understanding the rest; for whoever shall understand the power of Christ, as it is here strikingly portrayed, will afterwards read with advantage what the others relate about the Redeemer who was manifested.”
Reformation commentators ruminated on the meaning and implications of such claims for shedding light on doctrines like the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, and his incarnation, but also for grasping the saving benefits of Christ’s work in justification (for those “who believed in his name”) and new birth (those born of God as his children, 1:12-13).
In volume IV of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture, Craig Farmer expertly guides readers through Reformation meditation on these themes and many others as they are unpacked in the first 12 chapters of the Gospel of John, from the Prologue to Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Here you will find a rich mosaic of reflection on the Gospel of John by a variety of significant well-known and lesser-known figures among the Reformed, Lutherans, Radicals, and Roman Catholics. Farmer has done justice to the depth and nuance of the work of these Reformation-era pastors and scholars by drawing from a range of genres—extensive commentary, brief annotations, impassioned sermons, official confessions, and careful doctrinal and practical treatises.
In volume V, church historian Christopher Boyd Brown guides readers through a diversity of early modern commentary on chapters 13–21 of the Gospel of John. Readers will hear from familiar voices and discover lesser-known figures from a range of theological traditions, including Lutherans, Reformed, Radicals, Anglicans, and Roman Catholics. Drawing upon a variety of resources—including commentaries, sermons, treatises, and confessions—much of which appears here for the first time in English, this volume provides resources for contemporary preachers, enables scholars to better understand the depth and breadth of Reformation commentary, and seeks to encourage all those who desire to love as Jesus loves.
- Provides a deeper understanding of the Reformation and the breadth of perspectives represented within it
- Advances Christian scholarship in the fields of historical, biblical, and pastoral studies
- Edited by scholars from around the world known for their command of the history of biblical interpretation in the Reformation era
Craig S. Farmer (PhD, Duke University) is professor of history and humanities and Joel O. and Mabel Stephens Chair of the Bible at Milligan College, Tennessee. He is the author of The Gospel of John in the Sixteenth Century: The Johannine Exegesis of Wolfgang Musculus.
Christopher Boyd Brown (PhD, Harvard University) is associate professor of church history at Boston University School of Theology. He is the author of Singing the Gospel: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation and the general editor of the American edition of Luther's Works.