The Gospel of John and the Religious Quest: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
Overview
The Gospel of John and the Religious Quest argues that at its origin the fourth Gospel was part of a dialogue with various religious traditions, and that to this day it is being used in active dialogue with those who live in traditions other than the Christian.
In the first part of the book, Johannes Nissen analyzes a number of texts he selected with the assertion that they are centrally important to John’s theology and that they are relevant in today’s religious quests and encounters. These texts focus on John’s images of life—water, bread, light, way, and tree—but also treat concepts that are crucial to the fourth Gospel—word, truth, and love.
In the second part, Nissen focuses on significant issues for current readers of the Gospel: the relation between incarnation and inculturation; models for dialogue with other religions; images of Christ; truth and love as criteria for dialogue; and the experience of faith in the light of the fourth Gospel.
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- Highlights the importance of word, truth, and love as the prominent concepts within the Gospel of John
- Examines critically key images throughout the text of the fourth Gospel
- Provides immediate relevance by translating the critical issues in the Gospel to modern life
- Offers multiple dialogues as a way to engage with other religions
- Part One: Images of a Greater Reality—Interpretation of Selected Texts
- The Distinctive Character of the Fourth Gospel
- The Word
- Rebirth
- Water
- Bread
- Light
- Truth
- Love
- Way
- Tree
- Part Two: The Gospel of John and the Religious Dialogue
- The Fourth Gospel, Incarnation, and Inculturation
- Models for Dialogue with Other Religions
- Images of Christ
- The Truth and the Love—On Criteria for Religious Dialogue
- The Johannine Experience of Faith
Seeing how the religious quest was important for the Gospel of John, the reader is invited into a creative reading of the Gospel that opens a meeting place for religious seekers today. The author strikes a balance between experience and theological reflection and shows a way to maintain genuine Christian integrity together with openness towards other traditions.
—Mogens S. Mogensen, consultant, Intercultural.dk
What a brilliant idea to read the Gospel of John in light of today’s religious quest and the encounter of religions. You not only get an innovative reading of the Gospel, that in its origin was part of a similar dialogue in a very diverse religious landscape, but in addition the book and Johannes Nissen inspire to engage in actual dialogue with the religious diversity of our time.
—Viggo Mortensen, emeritus professor of global Christianity, University of Aarhus
I warmly congratulate Nissen on this splendid book, which will enrich several disciplines: New Testament, mission, and interreligious relations. In conversation with scholars from around the world, especially the Indian subcontinent, the author convincingly opens up the fourth Gospel as a fertile resource for Christian encounter and dialogue with other faiths.
—Kirsteen Kim, professor of theology and world Christianity, Leeds Trinity University
- Title: The Gospel of John and the Religious Quest: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
- Author: Johannes Nissen
- Publisher: Wipf & Stock
- Publication Date: 2013
- Pages: 218
- Christian Group: Evangelicals
- Resource Type: Topical
- Topic: Theology