Johannine literature is understood as a product of a community reflecting the community’s theology, the historical struggles and experiences within and outside. Therefore, the historical circumstances and development either resulted in or at least impacted the formulation of language and thought which became evident in the writings. Consequently, there is a growing interest in the analysis of the actual Sitz im Leben of the Johannine community besides what is revealed by Historical Criticism. As a result, efforts have been made to reconstruct the Johannine community to understand the thoughts and theology contained in the Johannine literature.¹

While Bultmann might have triggered the interest in the Sitz im Leben (situation in life) of the community behind the Gospel, the real investigation on the nature of the community that lies behind the Johannine literature were taken up by later scholars. E. Käsemann had asked the kind of community that produced the Gospel. Soon J.L. Martyn and R.E. Brown attempted a thorough historical reconstruction of the Johannine community and directed many studies in this direction to date. Wayne Meeks’ contribution considers the nature and characteristics of the Johannine community as a ―sectarian group. These important studies were to trigger a plethora of studies directed toward the social and historical aspects of the Johannine community.² We will briefly see the reconstruction of the Johannine Community by these scholars.

Ernst Käsemann:

In his book, The Testament of Jesus (1966), Käsemann explicitly spells out in the first chapter how to locate the Gospel of John historically. He candidly speaks about how historical criticism had failed to give information on the historical background of the Gospel.³ Taking John 17 as a starting point, Käsemann seeks to locate the Gospel within the history of early Christianity by asking the question, ―What kind of community produced the Fourth Gospel?⁴ Käsemann observes that there is no ecclesiology or concept of the ‘Church’ in John and the basic elements of congregational life – worship and the sacraments and ministry play an insignificant role. Moreover, there is little regard for apostolic authority. He concludes that Johannine community was ―a community that has and acknowledges an office effected by the Spirit and endowed with specific authority. It is a community to be understood not from its corporateness but rather from the aspect of its individual members and stands in tension with the Church.⁵

Käsemann situates the Gospel presumably at the end of the first century when the process of consolidating the churches into a unity, ‘early Catholicism,’ was already well underway. He sees the community as an ―enthusiastic sect, Hellenistic in character, relic of a Christian community, existing on, or being pushed to, the church’s periphery.⁶ According to Käsemann, Johannine ideas differ from those of mainstream Christian thought and they exhibit the characteristics of Gnosticism, Docetism, and sectarianism.⁷ Further, Käsemann also observes that due to his understanding of “church and world,” the Evangelist stands in opposition to all that was considered to be worldly including other Christians except his community.⁸

J. L. Martyn:

Martyn attempts a fuller reconstruction of the Johannine community – its social and theological history – in his book – The Gospel of John in Christian History (1978). Martyn divided the community‘s history into three stages – the Early Period, the Middle Period and the Late Period. The Early Period saw the origin of the community thriving within the synagogue, and the evangelistic preachers made use of numerous pieces of Jesus-tradition by now probably called ‘signs source.’ Probably one of the preachers of the inner-synagogue Messianic group might have collected some of the traditions and homilies as a rudimentary, written Gospel.⁹

The Middle Period saw the ‘two traumas’ faced by the Johannine community – the introduction of the Birkath ha-Minim; and the consequent second trauma – persecution, labelling them as Messithim/planoi (seducers). On the part of the community, this led to a mature interpretation of the expulsion further leading to the development of new Christology formulations. They ceased to be ‘Christian Jews’ and became instead ‘Jewish Christians.’¹⁰ According to Martyn, the healing of the blind man in John 9 reflects an event not of Jesus’ time but of a later period when the synagogue authority began to view the new movement as a distinct rival.¹¹

The Late Period saw a movement toward firm social and theological formations, the writing of the full Gospel in its first and second editions, and the formation of the community‘s own identity in relation to the synagogue and the other Christian groups in its setting.¹² Martyn identified three expressions of Johannine groups in the course of the community‘s development viz. 1) the disciples of Moses (9:28) – the Johannine community 2) the Jews who believed in him (Jesus) (8:31) – Christian Jews who remained within the synagogue, and 3) the other sheep (10:16) – other Jewish Christians who also have suffered excommunication with whom there is the hope of unification.¹³

R. E. Brown:

Martyn‘s historical reconstruction of the Johannine community was taken up by R. E. Brown in his article “Johannine Ecclesiology: The Community‘s Origins.”¹⁴ and in a monograph The Community of the Beloved Disciple,¹⁵ as well as in his book Introduction to the New Testament.¹⁶

Brown breaks the community’s development into four phases. Phase One was the situation before the writing of the Gospel (the mid-50s to late 80s) when the community was expelled from the synagogue. Although the Gospel was written after this point in time, the pre- Gospel history certainly included the controversy between the Johannine Christians and the synagogue.¹⁷

Phase Two was the situation in which the Gospel was “written”¹⁸ and persecution persisted, creating deep scars in the community regarding the “Jews.” This was an informative phase about the Johannine community in a pluralistic world of believers and non-believers at the end of the first century.¹⁹

Phase Three was a situation presumably around 100 CE in a now-divided community and the time when the epistles were written. This division as recorded in 1 John 2:19 is between two groups of Johannine disciples who are interpreting the Gospel in opposite ways concerning Christology, ethics, eschatology and pneumatology.²⁰

Phase Four was when the Epistles were written and relation was severed with the secessionists, who moved toward Docetism, Gnosticism, Cerinthianism and Montanism; while adherents of John seemed to gradually merge with the ‘Church Catholic’ early in the second century. According to Brown, this amalgamation could have resulted in Johannine acceptance of an authoritative church teaching structure, as the Paraclete-teacher concept failed as a defence against the secessionists.²¹

Wayne A. Meeks:

Wayne A. Meeks, in his article, “The Man from Heaven in Johannine Sectarianism” sought to clarify that Johannine literature is the product not of an individual but that of a community or group of communities with a consistent shared identity. The community was a sect, distinct from the Baptist,’ having a sore relationship over against the dominant Jewish community. It suffered defections, conflicts of leadership, and schisms. Meeks argues that one function of the ―symbolic universe of the Johannine literature was to explain all these aspects of the group‘s history.²²

Conclusion:

We should remember that the above reconstructions of the Johannine community are only hypothetical reconstructions based on the contents of the Johannine literature.

Foot Notes

1 James Chuaukailiana, “Socio-Historical Reading of pneu/ma th/j avlhqei,ianjJohannine literature,” (D.Th. Thesis, Senate of Serampore College, 2022), 46.

2 Chuaukailiana, “Socio-Historical Reading of pneu/ma th/j avlhqei,ianjJohannine literature,” 48.

3 Ernst Käsemann, The Testament of Jesus: A study of the Gospel of John in the Light of John 1 (trans. G. Krodel; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1968), 1.

4 Paul N. Anderson, foreword to Käsemann, The Testament of Jesus, xi-xii.

5 Käsemann, Testament of Jesus, 29.

6 Käsemann, Testament of Jesus, 39.

7 J.C. Fenton, review of Ernst Käsemann, Testament of Jesus. JTS 20/2 (1969): 609.

8 Wayne A. Meeks, review of Ernst Käsemann, Testament of Jesus. USQR 34/4 (1969): 119.

9 Martyn, The Gospel of John in Christian History, 97.

10 Martyn, The Gospel of John in Christian History, 105-7.

11 Cirafesi, “The Johannine Community Hypothesis.” 175.

12 Martyn, The Gospel of John in Christian History. 157.

13 Martyn, The Gospel of John in Christian History 167.

14 R.E. Brown, “Johannine Ecclesiology: The Community’s Origins,” Int 31/4 (1977): 379-393.

15 R.E. Brown, The Community of the Beloved Disciple (New York: Paulist Press, 1979).

16 Raymond E. Brown, Introduction to the New Testament, (Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 2000), 373-376.

17 Brown, Community, 22.

18 If one posits the activity of an evangelist and a redactor, 90 CE could be the date of the main writing of the Gospel.

19 Brown, Community, 23.

20 Brown, Community, 23.

21 Brown, Community, 24.

22 Wayne A. Meeks, “The Man from Heaven in Johannine Sectarianism,” JBL 91/1 (March 1972): 49-50.