The Fourth Gospel and the Scriptures


Book Description

In The Fourth Gospel and the Scriptures, Bynum presents new insights from ancient biblical manuscripts 4QXII and the Minor Prophets Scroll that help unlock the mystery of John’s unique form of scriptural citation.




The Fourth Gospel


Book Description

Bestselling and controversial bishop and teacher John Shelby Spong reveals the subversive, mystical wisdom of the writer of the Gospel of John and how his teachings point us forward in the twenty-first century In The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic, Spong turns his attention to the Gospel of John, the fourth Gospel in the Bible. Contrary to what is most often believed, he writes that this gospel was misinterpreted by the framers of the fourth-century creeds to be a literal account of the life of Jesus. In fact, it is a literary, interpretive retelling of the events in Jesus’ life through the medium of Jewish worship traditions and fictional characters, from Nicodemus and Lazarus to the “Beloved Disciple.” The Fourth Gospel not only recaptures the original message of this gospel, but also provides us with a radical new dimension to the claim that in the humanity of Jesus the reality of God has been met and engaged. This book offers a fresh way to read the Gospel of John and a unique primer about how to be a Christian in the post-Christian twenty-first century.




Love in the Gospel of John


Book Description

The command to love is central to the Gospel of John. Internationally respected scholar Francis Moloney offers a thorough exploration of this theme, focusing not only on Jesus's words but also on his actions. Instead of merely telling people that they must love one another, Jesus acts to make God's love known and calls all who follow him to do the same. This capstone work on John's Gospel uses a narrative approach to delve deeply into a theme at the heart of the Fourth Gospel and the life of the Christian church. Uniting rigorous exegesis with theological and pastoral insight, it makes a substantive contribution to contemporary Johannine scholarship.




Old Testament Quotations in the Fourth Gospel


Book Description

From the very beginning of Christianity, Jesus' followers have tried to legitimize their views of him with the help of the Scriptures. This means that if we wish to understand the beginning of the Christian church and of Christian theology, we have to examine the early Christian use of the Old Testament. A conspicious way of using the Scriptures consists in directly quoting from them. Eleven OT quotations in the Fourth Gospel are the topic of this study. These eleven quotations (in fact the majority of John's OT quotations) differ from the known versions of the OT, but are not free paraphrases of the OT text, in some cases, it is not immediately clear from which passage precisely the evangelist quotes. This state of affairs raises the questions which OT passages in which versions John used and how and why the quotations were modified. In this study, the questions of source and of redaction are dealt with in their interrelationship. Can we adequately explain the form of a quotation by taking into account Johannine redaction of an OT passage in a textual form which we know which we can reasonably argue ? Results of research in the field of early Jewish and early Christian exegetical techniques and devices are of course taken into account. Each of the eleven quotations is scrutinized on the points of source and redaction. It appears that John mostly used the LXX, but that where that translation did not suit his purposes, he either translated the Hebrew himself or used an other translation. He modified the quotations in agreement with extant exegetical rules, and for christological reasons. This study gives new insight into an aspect of the early Christian use of Scripture.




The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture)


Book Description

In this addition to the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, two well-respected New Testament scholars interpret the Gospel of John in its historical and literary setting as well as in light of the Church's doctrinal, liturgical, and spiritual tradition. They unpack the wisdom of the Fourth Gospel for the intellectual and spiritual transformation of its readers and connect the Gospel with a range of witnesses throughout the whole history of Catholicism. This volume, like each in the series, is supplemented by features designed to help readers understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively in teaching, preaching, evangelization, and other forms of ministry.




The Gospel According to John


Book Description

This commentary seeks above all to explain the text of John's Gospel to those whose privilege and responsibility it is to minister the Word of God to others, to preach and to lead Bible studies. I have tried to include the kind of information they need to know, but to do so in such a way that the informed layperson could also use the work in personal study of the Bible, exclusively for purposes of personal growth in edification and understanding. In particular, I have attempted: (1) To make clear the flow of the text. (2) To engage a small but representative part of the massive secondary literature on John. (3) To draw a few lines towards establishing how the Fourth Gospel contributes to biblical and systematic theology. (4) To offer a consistent exposition of John's Gospel as an evangelistic Gospel. - Preface.




Cold-Case Christianity


Book Description

Written by an L. A. County homicide detective and former atheist, Cold-Case Christianity examines the claims of the New Testament using the skills and strategies of a hard-to-convince criminal investigator. Christianity could be defined as a “cold case”: it makes a claim about an event from the distant past for which there is little forensic evidence. In Cold-Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace uses his nationally recognized skills as a homicide detective to look at the evidence and eyewitnesses behind Christian beliefs. Including gripping stories from his career and the visual techniques he developed in the courtroom, Wallace uses illustration to examine the powerful evidence that validates the claims of Christianity. A unique apologetic that speaks to readers’ intense interest in detective stories, Cold-Case Christianity inspires readers to have confidence in Christ as it prepares them to articulate the case for Christianity.




Four Portraits, One Jesus, 2nd Edition


Book Description

To Christians worldwide, the man Jesus of Nazareth is the centerpiece of history, the object of faith, hope, and worship. Even those who do not follow him admit the vast influence of his life. For anyone interested in knowing more about Jesus, study of the four biblical Gospels is essential. The second edition of Four Portraits, One Jesus has been updated throughout to meet the needs to today's students. It is a thorough yet accessible introduction to the four biblical Gospels and their subject, the life and person of Jesus. Like different artists rendering the same subject using different styles and points of view, the Gospels paint four highly distinctive portraits of the same remarkable Jesus. With clarity and insight, Mark Strauss illuminates these four books addressing the following important areas: First he addresses the nature, origin, methods for study, and historical, religious, and cultural backgrounds of the Gospels. He then moves on to closer study of each narrative and its contribution to our understanding of Jesus, investigating things such as plot, characters, and theme. Finally, he pulls it all together with a detailed examination of what the Gospels teach about Jesus' ministry, message, death, and resurrection, with excursions into the quest for the historical Jesus and the historical reliability of the Gospels. This textbook together with its workbook, video lectures, and laminated sheet gives students everything they need for a thorough and enriching study of Jesus and the Gospels.




John's Wisdom


Book Description

Jesus as depicted in the Fourth Gospel is remarkably dissimilar to the Jesus found in the synoptic gospels. In this book, Witherington places the Gospel of John within its proper literary, historical, social and theological contexts. What emerges is a compelling argument that the Gospel of John has an agenda for mission, in addition to concerns for discipleship and community life.




Holy Bible (NIV)


Book Description

The NIV is the world's best-selling modern translation, with over 150 million copies in print since its first full publication in 1978. This highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English has the largest library of printed and electronic support material of any modern translation.