RSS

Share Biblica

Home  >  Biblica  >  Vol 92 (2011)  > 

    Philipp F. Bartholomä, «John 5,31-47 and the Teaching of Jesus in the Synoptics. A Comparative Approach.»

    Within Johannine scholarship, the assumed differences between Jesus’ teaching in John and in the Synoptics have frequently led to a negative judgment about Johannine authenticity. This article proposes a comparative approach that distinguishes between different levels of similarity in wording and content and applies it to John 5,31-47. What we find in this discourse section corresponds conceptually to a significant degree with the picture offered in the Synoptics, though couched in a very different idiom. Thus, the comparative evidence does not preclude us from accepting this particular part of Johannine speech material as an authentic representation of the actual content of Jesus’words.

    TAGS
    Biblica_1:Layout 1 21-11-2011 12:59 Pagina 368 John 5,31-47 and the Teaching of Jesus in the Synoptics. A Comparative Approach The Fourth Gospel is notably different from its synoptic coun- terparts. Years ago, Stephen Neill and Tom Wright remarked that John has been charged with “excessive individualism and intro- spective exclusivism” 1. Accordingly, the Fourth Gospel has re- ceived little attention as a valuable contribution among scholars undertaking a quest for the historical Jesus 2. I. Johannine-Synoptic Relations and Jesus’ Discourses in the Fourth Gospel When it comes, more specifically, to the historical reliability of the Johannine speech material, the relationship between the Johan- nine and Synoptic Gospels is particularly significant. Indeed, a strong correlation is often found between how a particular scholar evaluates the perceived relationship of the Johannine discourses and the teach- ing of Jesus in the Synoptics and his or her opinion with regard to the authenticity of the words of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Especially those scholars with a certain skepticism towards Johannine authen- 1 S. NEILL – T. WRIGHT, The Interpretation of the New Testament 1861- 1986 (Oxford 21988) 436. 2 Cf., e.g., E.P. SANDERS, The Historical Figure of Jesus (London 1993) 71, saying that scholars “have almost unanimously, I think entirely correctly, concluded that the teaching of the historical Jesus is to be sought in the synoptic gospels and that John represents an advanced development (...)”. Also J.D.G. DUNN, Jesus Remembered (Christianity in the Making 1; Grand Rapids, MI 2003) 165: “Few scholars would regard John as a source for information re- garding Jesus’ life and ministry in any degree comparable to the Synoptics”. Yet, cf. now the more positive views on Johannine historicity visible in two publications of the SBL John, Jesus, and History study group: John, Jesus, and History, Volume 1. Critical Appraisals of Critical Views (eds. P.N. ANDER- SON – F. JUST – T. THATCHER) (SBL Symposium Series 44; Leiden 2007) and John, Jesus, and History, Volume 2. Aspects of Historicity in the Fourth Gospel (eds. P.N. ANDERSON – F. JUST – T. THATCHER) (Early Christianity and Its Lit- erature 2; Leiden 2009).