Studies in the Gospels (Part Twelve)
Welcome to my 12 th post on the canonical gospels. I am wrapping up my study on the Gospel of John with some concluding observations. Elements in John that are Historical : For much of the 19 th and 20 th centuries the gospel of John was considered by most scholars to be completely unhistorical. It was so different theologically from the Synoptics that scholars dismissed it as mostly a work of fiction – not based on anything Jesus really said or did except in those few cases where the content overlapped the Synoptics. In the past 50 years that has been changing. Scholars now recognize that there are important historical elements in this gospel. New Testament scholar C.H. Dodd points out these elements in John that are most likely historical (C.H. Dodd, Historical Tradition and the Fourth Gospel , Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1963): 1. The beginnings of Jesus’ ministry as an offshoot of the ministry of John the Baptist. Only the Gospel of John records that A