The Conceptual Worlds of the Fourth Gospel

Intertextuality and Early Reception

Charles B. Puskas, C. Michael Robbins

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781532681714
  9781532681721
• eBook ISBN:
  9781532681738
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Over, under, and through John's story of Jesus are unforgettable ideas and concepts, profoundly simple and simply profound, for the author's own audience and beyond. These ideas did not originate in a vacuum. They have recurred and been repeated before and after the writing of the Fourth Gospel. For this reason we will examine the meaning of its words and themes in the context of its Jewish-Greco-Roman milieu. Much of our intertextual understanding will be derived from alleged parallels that involve comparisons of similar vocabulary and phrases, as well as parallel concepts and images from the Old Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, and other relevant writings. Such parallels will help to determine the meaning of a word or expression, the translation of a particular language, determining any direct influences upon the Fourth Gospel, parallel traditions, or the influence of its ideas, as a creative and inspiring work of later antiquity.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Credit Lines
• List of Tables
• Abbreviations
• Preface
• Introduction
• I. New Testament Intertextualities: Synoptic and Johannine Traditions57
• II. The Jewish Scriptures (Septuagint)
• III. Jewish Wisdom and Angelology
• IV. Philo
• V. The Dead Sea Scrolls
• VI. Rabbinica and Targumim
• VII. Greco-Roman Cults and Philosophies: Isis, Plato, Hermetica
• VIII. The Dionysian Gospel326
• IX. The Odes of Solomon, The Samaritans, and Mandaean Literature
• X. The Nag Hammadi Library
• XI. The Gospel of Thomas473
• XII. The Early Reception of the Fourth Gospel
• Conclusion
• Bibliography