HISTORY AND THEOLOGY IN THE FOURTH GOSPEL

The problems attending the origins, authorship, and purpose of the Fourth Gospel (John) are among the most difficult, if not insoluble, of any confronting New Testament scholars. Professor Martyn, of Union Theological Seminary in New York, attempts one solution of these interwoven problems in this volume. His basic thesis is that the Gospel can be read as a ""two-level drama"" an account of dramatic events in the life of Jesus paralleled in dramatic events taking place in the experience of the congregation of Christians in the unidentified city in which the author had taken up residence. A central aspect of this experience was the exclusion of the Christians from the synagogue by the authorities of the synagogue. The author develops this thesis by a close analysis of certain significant passages in the Gospel and materials drawn from contemporaneous sources. While the scholarship here is meticulous and balanced, the style is simple and lively, making the study accessible to a much wider circle of readers than the scholarly community to whom it is primarily addressed. A fresh and illuminating contribution to the field of New Testament interpretation of this most puzzling, and perhaps most modern, Gospel.