Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 32:1 (Oct 2021)
Article: Jesus In Johannine Perspective: Inviting A Fourth Quest For Jesus
Author: Paul N. Anderson

Conspectus 32:1 (October 2021) p. 7

Jesus In Johannine Perspective: Inviting A Fourth Quest For Jesus

Paul N. Anderson

George Fox University; North-West University

About The Author

Prof. Paul N. Anderson serves as Professor of Biblical and Quaker Studies at George Fox University, Newberg, Oregon. He also holds the position of Extraordinary Professor of Religion at North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa. [email protected]

This article: https://www.sats.ac.za/jesus-in-johannine-perspective

Abstract

Despite the fact that the Fourth Gospel has been a puzzlement to modern scholars seeking to construct a solid, bare-minimum understanding of Jesus and his ministry, a parsimonious approach cannot suffice critically. If all worthy sources are to be utilized, the Gospel of John cannot be neglected. The question is how to do so. Bolstered by three paradigms within an overall Johannine theory (John’s Dialogical Autonomy), the Fourth Gospel can be seen as developing over at least two editions, with the first edition augmenting and modestly correcting Mark. The later material functions to harmonize with the Synoptics, added by the author of the Epistles after the death of the Beloved Disciple, the evangelist. As the first three Quests of Jesus have excluded the Gospel of John, improved criteria for determining historicity are here advanced: corroborative impression, primitivity, critical realism, and open coherence. Within such an approach, the Johannine witness provides an independent corroboration of the Synoptic accounts. Additionally, the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John make distinctive contributions of their own. This calls for a Fourth Quest for Jesus—an inclusive Quest—at the dawn of the new millennium.

Keywords

Johannine riddles, historical Jesus, a bi-optic hypothesis, interfluentiality, John’s dialogical autonomy, historicity, memory theory, archaeology, realia, verisimilitude

1. Introduction

The Gospel of John has been called a stream in which a child can wade…, and an elephant can swim. The question is “Why?” Of course, the main answer lies in its perplexing riddles—theological, historical, and literary—which have puzzled readers and scholars

Conspectus 32:1 (October 2021) p. 8

for the last two millennia.1 It was John’s Christological tensions that precipitated four centuries of theological debates(Anderson 2010d),2 and it is John’s historical and literary perplexities that have created the most intense of scholarly debates ov...