Purpose & authorship Flashcards
1
Q
Describe the external evidence for John the Gospel
A
- ## John the Apostle is seen as the author from the earliest time
2
Q
Compare opinions of ‘the beloved disciple’
A
Raymond Brown:
- may have been a companion of Jesus (but not necessarily a disciple)
- may have lived through the development of the ‘church’
- ‘beloved disciple’ provided oral tradition written down (possibility of this being 80CE) then edited by community
Westcott:
- in 2001 he claimed the author was a Palestinian Jew who was an eyewitness & disciple
- claimed the Beloved Disciple was John as others suggest
3
Q
Describe evidence suggesting John as ‘John the Elder’
A
- Eusebius (widely known as the father of Christian history) quoted Bishop Papias - John the Elder lived in Ephesus (70-146CE) therefore during Trajan’s reign
- 2 John and 3 John seem to have been written by John the Elder
- but neither letter seems to resemble the Gospel or 1 John (1 John is anonymous but similar to the Gospel)
4
Q
Describe evidence suggesting John as ‘John Mark’
A
- Mark lived in Jerusalem at the time
- was from
5
Q
Who claims John was written by the Johannine community & why?
A
Raymond Brown claimed:
- that is was likely to have been written by the Johannine community - a Messianic community who were followers of John in Ephesus
- 1:14 & 3:11 - “We…” is used to suggest a writing community which was rejected or oppressed by the Temple for following Jesus
- 21:24 - “We know that his testimony is true…” - links the Johannine community with the Beloved Disciple
- Bultmann (1971) - a community editor was behind the final work - the community had moved away from Judaism by this time & were sharing beliefs through reliable witnesses
6
Q
Which scholar claimed John was separate from the Synoptics & why?
A
- C.H. Dodd argued that John was completely independent of the synoptic gospels:
- John not only has contradictions of the other of events (
