- The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Contributors
- Introduction
- The Text of The Gospel and Letters of John
- Literary Sources of the Gospel and Letters of John
- John and other Gospels
- The Story of the Johannine Community and its Literature
- The Beloved Disciple, the Fourth Evangelist, and the Authorship of the Fourth Gospel
- The Gospel of John and Archaeology
- The Jews of the Fourth Gospel
- The Johannine Literature in a Greek Context
- The Johannine Literature and Contemporary Jewish Literature
- The Johannine Literature and the Gnostics
- The Fourth Gospel as Narrative and Drama
- Ideological Readings of the Fourth Gospel
- Gender and the Fourth Gospel
- Social-Scientific Readings of the Gospel and Letters of John
- Symbolism and ‘Signs’ in the Fourth Gospel
- Dualism and the World in the Gospel and Letters of John
- Eschatology and Time in the Gospel of John
- The Person of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John
- The Purpose of the Ministry and Death of Jesus in the Gospel of John
- Faith, Eternal Life, and the Spirit in the Gospel of John
- Ethics in Community in the Gospel and Letters of John
- Temple, Festivals, and Scripture in the Gospel Of John
- The Johannine Literature and the Canon
- Johannine Commentaries in the Early Church
- Index Locorum
- General Index
Abstract and Keywords
The stages by which the Gospel and letters commonly known as ‘of John’ (as also of the Apocalypse, often assigned to the same author) became part of the canon are exemplary of wider canonical processes in the early church. While closely inter-related there are also differentiated patterns of recognition of these writings in different parts of the church and at different times. This chapter examines those stages with attention to the evidence of early Christian writings and to scholarly debate about it. More recent discussion has interrogated the nature of ‘canon’ in relation to other terms expressing authority, and also in relation to the range of actual textual practices and of the wider body of texts that flourished among early Christians.
Keywords: canon, acknowledged books, contested books, four gospel canon, Catholic Letters, authorship, apostolicity, contextual textual practices
Judith M. Lieu is Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. Her research interests are in the Johannine Literature and in the formation of Christianity in the second century. Recent publications include Marcion and the Making of a Heretic (2015); I, II, III John: A Commentary (Louisville, 2008); Christian Identity in the Jewish and Graeco-Roman World (2004); Neither Jew nor Greek. Constructing Early Christianity (2002/2015).
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- The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Contributors
- Introduction
- The Text of The Gospel and Letters of John
- Literary Sources of the Gospel and Letters of John
- John and other Gospels
- The Story of the Johannine Community and its Literature
- The Beloved Disciple, the Fourth Evangelist, and the Authorship of the Fourth Gospel
- The Gospel of John and Archaeology
- The Jews of the Fourth Gospel
- The Johannine Literature in a Greek Context
- The Johannine Literature and Contemporary Jewish Literature
- The Johannine Literature and the Gnostics
- The Fourth Gospel as Narrative and Drama
- Ideological Readings of the Fourth Gospel
- Gender and the Fourth Gospel
- Social-Scientific Readings of the Gospel and Letters of John
- Symbolism and ‘Signs’ in the Fourth Gospel
- Dualism and the World in the Gospel and Letters of John
- Eschatology and Time in the Gospel of John
- The Person of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John
- The Purpose of the Ministry and Death of Jesus in the Gospel of John
- Faith, Eternal Life, and the Spirit in the Gospel of John
- Ethics in Community in the Gospel and Letters of John
- Temple, Festivals, and Scripture in the Gospel Of John
- The Johannine Literature and the Canon
- Johannine Commentaries in the Early Church
- Index Locorum
- General Index
