Word and Glory: On the Exegetical and Theological Background of John's Prologue (Library of New Testament Studies | LNTS)
Word and Glory challenges recent claims that Gnosticism, especially as expressed in the Nag Hammadi tractate Trimorphic Protennoia, is the most natural and illuminating background for understanding the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel. Scriptural allusions and interpretive traditions suggest that Jewish wisdom tradition, mediated by the synagogue of the Diaspora, lies behind the Prologue and the Fourth Gospel as a whole, not some form of late first-century Gnosticism.
Several features of the Fourth Gospel reflect the synagogue and nascent Christianity's struggle to advance and defend its beliefs about Jesus who, as God's son and Agent, was understood as the embodiment of the Divine Word. All of the ingredients that make up Johannine Christology derive from dominical tradition, refracted through the lens of Jewish interpretive traditions. There is no compelling evidence that this Christology derived from or was influenced by Gnostic mythology. Word and Glory also develops and tests criteria for assessing the relative value of post-New Testament sources for the interpretation of New Testament documents.
Top Highlights
“There is, however, one important element that lacks a clear parallel: the idea of the logos becoming a human being.” (Page 104)
“The evidence further suggests that Gnostic mythology probably had nothing to do with the formulation of Johannine Christology.” (Page 8)
“I found these essays disturbing not so much because their conclusions are at points quite erroneous, but because they exhibit insufficient awareness of the problems attending the utilization of documents that significantly postdate the writings of the New Testament. I found these essays, as well as the earlier studies of Bultmann and James Robinson, puzzling in that ancient writings which offer better parallels and which unquestionably antedate the Fourth Gospel are either minimized or ignored altogether.” (Page 9)
“I hope in this book to accomplish three things: (1) to clarify the interpretive background of the Johannine Prologue; (2) to clarify the provenance of the Fourth Gospel itself; and (3) to establish criteria for evaluating ‘parallels’, especially those found in documents that postdate the New Testament.” (Page 9)
“The Prologue’s assertion that the unique God (or Son) existed in the ‘bosom of the Father’ (v. 18) contrasts with Moses’ fleeting glimpse of God’s ‘back’” (Pages 80–81)
- Title: Word and Glory: On the Exegetical and Theological Background of John’s Prologue
- Author: Craig A. Evans
- Series: Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series
- Volume: 89
- Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
- Print Publication Date: 1993
- Logos Release Date: 2008
- Era: era:Contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Gnosticism; Gnosticism › Relations--Christianity; Gnosticism › Relations--Judaism; Bible. N.T. John 1:1-18 › Criticism, interpretation, etc
- ISBNs: 9781850754480, 1850754489
- Resource ID: LLS:WORDANDGLRY
- Resource Type: text.monograph.biblical-theology
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T21:08:58Z
Craig A. Evans earned his PhD in biblical studies at Claremont Graduate University and received his decretum habilitationis from Budapest. He is Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament; Acadia Divinity College Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada; John Bisagno Distinguished Professor of Christian Origins (Houston Theological Seminary); a New Testament scholar; and a prolific author and popular teacher/speaker.
Evans is well-known for his work on the Gospels, the Historical Jesus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the archaeology of the New Testament. His passion for archaeology has him frequently participating in Middle East digs and leading Holy Land tours. He has regularly appeared in television and radio interviews, such as the History Channel, BBC, and Dateline NBC, served as a consultant on the National Geographic Society's Gospel of Judas project and for The Bible television miniseries, and is featured in documentaries like Fragments of Truth and the Archaeology and Jesus series.
He's written hundreds of articles and reviews and published more than 70 books, including Jesus and His Contemporaries, Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies, Mark in the Word Biblical Commentary, Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels, God Speaks, and Jesus and the Remains of His Days: Studies in Jesus and Archaeology. He coauthored Jesus, the Final Days with N. T. Wright.