Religion 317 Gospel of John Dr. Donald N. Penny

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Religion 317Gospel of JohnDr. Donald N. Penny
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I. Relationship to the Synoptics

• Synoptic problem
• Why are Synoptics so similar while John is so
  different?
• Synoptics similar chronologies much overlapping
  content very similar wording.
• John very different.
• Two-source theory of Synoptics
• Mk. and Q are sources for Mt. and Lk.
• Literary interdependence explains similarities.
• Jn. is independent of this process.

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The Two-Source Theory
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• Differences between John and Synoptics

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• Differences between John and Synoptics cont.

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• Similarities between John and Synoptics
• John the Baptist at beginning.
• Passion narrative same basic structure.
• Stories in common
• Feeding the 5,000 (Jn. 6 Mk. 6 par.).
• Walking on the Sea (Jn. 6 Mk. 6 par.).
• Healing the officials son (Jn. 4 Mt. 8 par.)?
• Anointing in Bethany (Jn. 12 Mk. 14 par. Lk. 7
  10).
• Similar sayings
• He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates
  his life in this world will keep it for eternal
  life (Jn. 1225 cf. Mt. 1039 par.).
• He who receives any one whom I send receives me
  and he who receives me receives him who sent me
  (Jn. 1320 cf. Mt. 1040).
• Rise, take up your pallet, and walk (Jn. 58
  cf. Mk. 211 par.).
• All things have been delivered to me by my
  Father and no one knows the Son except the
  Father, and no one knows the Father except the
  Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal
  him (?).
• Mt. 1127 par. a thunderbolt fallen from the
  Johannine sky.

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• Conclusions about Origin of John
• Differences show that John is basically
  independent of Synoptics.
• Similarities raise possibility that John knew one
  or more of Synoptics.
• Ancient fathers assumed John knew Synoptics and
  wrote to supplement.
• Some 19th-cent. scholars argued John wrote to
  correct Synoptics.
• Prevailing 20th-cent. consensus John did not
  know Synoptics at all.
• P. Gardner-Smith (1938) established view that
  John need not have known Synoptics.
• Similarities are due to a common oral tradition.
• Recent scholarship has challenged consensus.
• Some John knew Mk. or Lk.
• Others leave issue open.

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Synoptic tradition Q Mk. Mt.
Lk.
Oral tradition
Jesus
Johannine tradition Jn. 1, 2, 3,
Jn.
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• Implications for historicity
• Either John or Synoptics differences force
  historian to choose.
• Can the historical Jesus have been a
  prophet/rabbi reluctant to make claims about
  himself (Synoptics) and at the same time the
  boldly self-proclaimed divine Son of God (John)?
• Is it more likely that a reticent prophet/rabbi
  was reinterpreted by the church as the divine Son
  of God or vice versa?
• Johns account is more heavily theologized than
  Synoptics.
• Clement of Alexandria (d. 215) after Synoptics
  gave bodily facts, John wrote a spiritual
  gospel. (More interested in theological
  interpretation than mere recollection.)
• D. F. Strauss (1835) first to demonstrate that
  historical Jesus is to be found in Synoptics
  rather than John.
• Showed that Jn. has put churchs theology in
  narrative form.
• Synoptic portrait is closer to historical Jesus
  than Johns.
• Most scholars agree that quest for historical
  Jesus must be based mainly on Synoptics.

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• Implications for historicity cont.
• Both John and Synoptics contain mixture of
  history and theology.
• Cant say Synoptics purely historical John
  purely theological.
• Redaction criticism Synoptic authors have edited
  traditions to reflect their own theological
  interests.
• C. H. Dodd (1963) demonstrated that John is
  based on early tradition which may preserve
  nuggets of historical information.
• Difference of degree
• Synoptics historical Jesus lies closer to
  surface
• John theological interpretation is more
  explicit/thorough historical traditions and
  sayings, though present, are harder to isolate
  from Johns interpretation. (Often hard to tell
  when John is quoting Jesus, giving his own
  theology, or putting words in Jesus mouth.
  Culpepper Johannine Jesus sounds more like the
  author of Johns letters than like the Synoptic
  Jesus.)
• Conclusion
• Quest for historical Jesus is based mainly on
  Synoptics.
• John is studied mainly for its deep, profound
  theology.