The influences, background, traditions of Johannine Literature
Context of Johannine Community
There are different versions related to this community. Some Scholars say it was an urban community; some say it was a reformed community from Jewish Community. Some say this community was affected by the pressures of Judaism. Some say this community was a weak/low gird community.
The theories suggests that it was a community in conflict. But why?
Scholars like Mary Douglas say that this community was weak and expelled. So, there is always a conflict. This community was expelled from Synagogues.
Later they constituted as a new matrix. They constituted as a new matrix because there was no identity to them. They separated from their Parent religion Judaism and accepted Christianity. They belong to both Jewish religion and Christianity and at the same time they didn’t belong to anything. So, they came up with a new matrix.
This community engaged in a conflict with its parent body Judaism over the issue of messianic ship of Jesus Christ. Later, this community formulated a Gospel to its opponents. That is the reason why the author of this Gospel handpicked the traditions which is suitable or which can be interpreted according to its purpose. We can see different presentations in John’s Gospel.
When this literature was composed, Christians were in severe persecution. One of the purposes of Johannine literature is to encourage this community of Persecution. Johannine community is a community in conflict. To sum up, it is to this community, John is addressing.
Influences on Johannine Gospel
1. Old Testament
There can be no doubt that the Old Testament played a large part in the author’s thinking. The author had obviously read it well and pondered it long.
According to Borchert, “the Gospel literally breathes the influence of Israel’s text book.”
Concepts like Jesus been called greater than Moses, Logos and Shekena (coming and dwelling among the people during wilderness), Jesus replacing the Passover lamb, Jesus lifted on the cross like Moses lifted serpent in the wilderness, Moses and Jesus- Mannah and Bread gives us an idea that Johannine Gospel weaved together with Old Testament.
John the author did not reject Old Testament but used to present Jesus as the fulfilment.
2. Rabbinical Judaism
There can be little doubt that the teachings of the Rabbis lie behind part of the teaching of this Gospel. For the Rabbinic Judaism, reading Law Is Important. References like John 5: 5-11 shows the influence of Judaism on the literature of John. The term Law which is used in John 5: 1-11 is similar to the way it is used by the Rabbis.
3. Hellenistic Background
There is also a Hellenistic background. Some scholars have seen this pre-eminently in the Prologue, with its reference to the Logos, a concept found among the Greek Philosophers.
Philo: His main influence on John comes because of John’s usage of Logos. For Philo, Logos was the intermediate reality between God and the Universe. Logos is an idea behind creation. This idea is important for Philo. According to Philo, “God first created Wisdom, later creation.” For Philo, Logos is understood in terms of Wisdom.
C. H. Dodd supports Philo’s influence on John by saying the concepts like God as Shepherd, fountain of living water, light are also found in the writings of Philo.
Argument against Philo’s influence on John:
i. There is no evidence that John had read Philo’s writings. The way John Presented Logos is beyond Philo.
ii. The relationship of Logos to humanity is entirely different from the way it is in Philos. For Philo, Logos is the thought of God but not identical with God but for John Logos is God Himself.
4. The Hermeneutical Writings
Another possible background is discerned in the Hermetica, a group of writings of a philosophical and religious nature. These were attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Dualism is found in these writings and is modified according to its belief system.
One of the important concepts in Hermeneutical Principles is Regeneration. A Person is born again when She\He gains proper knowledge. When He\She gets proper knowledge of God then they will become divine.
C. H. Dodd argued against the Hermeneutic influence on John. He says there is no purposeful influence of the Hermeneutic literature on John and Few similarities should not be over emphasized.
5. Gnosticism
Gnosticism believes that Salvation is possible only through knowledge. People sin because of their ignorance. They believe that Body is Evil and Spirit is Good and Good Spirit has nothing to do with Evil body.
Bultmann is an outstanding example of a modern commentator who sees Gnosticism as the important part of the background to John. He holds that Gnostic redeemer myth lies behind John’s idea of a Christ who came forth from God and who returns to God.
Arguments against Gnostic influence on John:
The concept of Gnostic redeemer myth may be sound convincing but the existence of this redeemer-myth in any Pre-Christian form is far from having been proved. So, for all its popularity in some circles this idea must be discarded.
Gnostics rejected Christ because of his bodily form. Gnostics think only through Knowledge one will attain Salvation but in John’s Gospel Salvation is only through Christ not through Knowledge.
6. Mandaism
Mandaeans are continuing Gnostics of a non-Christian type. There are people who think this Mandaism as an offshoot of Gnosticism. Some say that the sect of Jewish People is responsible for this Mandaism. For Mandaeans, the ritual of Baptism is the key to Knowledge. Therefore, it is often repeated.
Argument:
John’s Baptism is different. It is not taking Baptism and gaining knowledge of God but it is having knowledge of God and affirm through Baptism.
7. Qumran Literature
Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 20th Century. Scholars have found that these scrolls are closely related to fourth Gospel in language, style, attitude and rituals. Scholars like A. M. Hunter, R. E. Brown, Charles Worth think that the fourth Gospel is directly or indirectly influenced by Dead Sea Scrolls. They say that Dead Sea Scrolls provides an actual background for fourth Gospel especially the theological affinity. Scholars opine that John was influenced by Qumran Community as we can find concepts similar to John like Dualism in Qumran Literature.
Argument:
Scholars argue that by saying both Qumran Literature and John’s Gospel have similarities, we cannot say that Qumran Literature has influence on John’s Gospel. Qumran cannot add apostolic authority to John but we can understand Jewish nature, Palestinic Origin and Johannine Tradition. Kummel says that John and Qumran have the common background. The thought world of Qumran community cannot be the native soil for Johannine thought forms and concepts.
2. The Early Christians’ belief was that the writer of the Fourth Gospel knew the Synoptic Gospels and supplemented them. Do you agree with this statement on the question of the relationship between the Synoptic Gospels and the Fourth Gospel? Give your opinion.
Since both the Gospel of John and the three other Gospels deal with narratives of the life of Jesus, the question of interrelationship naturally occurs. It has usually been accepted that John wrote after Matthew, Mark and Luke. And since he wrote later than the others, and since their writings were regarded very highly in the early church, it has seemed a natural result that John must have made use of those Gospels.
Matthew, Mark and Luke distinctly resemble one another, not only in general subject and order of narrative but also in many instances of extended discourse, whereas the text of John differs radically in its form and content from other Gospels.
The Gospel of John parallels the other in general order. It begins with the ministry of John the Baptist, narrates the early contacts with disciples, contains accounts of Jesus’ conflicts with the scribes and Pharisees, and places the feeding of the five thousand and the walking on the water at the turning point of his ministry. The story of the passion
week begins with the entry into Jerusalem and terminates with crucifixion and the Resurrection.
On the other hand, the Baptist’s introduction of Jesus to his disciples is highlighted rather than his general preaching-of-repentance ministry. Jesus’ initial contact with the disciples is quite different from the calling of the first four disciples as reported elsewhere. The discourses of Jesus in John are mainly apologetic and theological rather than ethical and practical, as in the Sermon on the Mount. Only seven miracles are recounted, and of these only two duplicate those of the Synoptic Gospels. Chronological order is different, for John places a cleansing of the temple early in Jesus’ ministry, whereas the Synoptics locate it in Passion week. The events of the Last Supper, the betrayal, the hearing before Pilate, and the Crucifixion account has only slight resemblance to the others.
These Phenomena have evoked many questions, and various theories have been advanced to account for them. The similarities are sufficient to establish the identity of the Jesus of John with the figure of the Synoptics, but the dissimilarities show that John did not lean on the written accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Whatever interrelationship may have existed between them, there is no convincing evidence that they affected John directly. Reconciliation of the Chronological differences and the disparity of content and style may be difficult but it is not impossible.
The best conclusion is to be drawn is that John was written independently of the others, not simply because he used different sources, but because he had a different purpose in organizing his material. He wrote as a first-hand witness making a special presentation of Jesus. John possessed knowledge of many facts of Jesus’ life mentioned in the Synoptics, but also, he knew much they did not record. He utilized this material in a different way and shaped it for a different purpose.
Each of the Gospel writers presented Jesus in accord with the needs of his readers and out of his own understanding of the Lord. All of them were drawing on the same sources of knowledge and were moved by the same Spirit.
The Johannine style is so different from that of the Synoptics that some scholars have rejected the historical validity of the Gospel. In recent years, however, all this has been called in question. Probably the great push to the new way of thinking was given by P. Gardner-Smith. He made a very close examination of the alleged case for dependence and concluded that it cannot be substantiated. Since then others have followed in Gardner- Smith’s steps and there is an increasing conviction in recent times that John is independent of the Synoptics.
Perhaps the clearest argument for seeing dependence in recent times is that of Barrett. Barrett is impressed basically by two things: the occurrence of a number of passages in Mark and John in the same order, and some striking verbal resemblances.
What seems very clear to many who have examined the evidence closely is that the kind of thing which is common to John and the Synoptics is precisely the kind which one would anticipate finding in Oral Tradition.
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