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Essays in this collection demonstrate that the Johannine account of Jesus deserves to be seen as a self-standing tradition rather than a collection of non-Johannine sources and the evangelist’s theologized perspective. Paul N. Anderson, N. Clayton Croy, Rachel L. Danley, James D. G. Dunn, Nicholas Elder, Douglas Estes, Charles A. Gieschen, Jeannine M. Hanger, Holly Hearon, Richard Horsley, Felix Just, S.J., Ahreum Kim, Amy Whisenand, Francisco Lozada Jr., William R. G. Loader, James F. McGrath, Christopher W. Skinner, Tom Thatcher, Marianne Meye Thompson, and Michael Zolondek demonstrate how the memory of Jesus in the Gospel of John developed from orality to literacy, perhaps in more than one edition. While John’s Christ hymn and other material were likely added later, contributors assert that this does not preclude that earlier memories were referenced within developing understandings of Jesus of Nazareth. The result is a unique Johannine tradition bridging firsthand reflections on Jesus’s ministry with the later needs of early Christianity.

Paul N. Anderson is Professor of Biblical and Quaker Studies at George Fox University and Extraordinary Professor of Religion at the North-West University of Potchefstroom in South Africa. He is a coeditor of SBL Press’s John, Jesus, and History volumes (2007–), the Biblical Interpretation Series (Brill), and the Johannine Monograph Series (Wipf & Stock), and is the author or editor of more than twenty books on the Johannine corpus.

Felix Just, S.J., is Associate Director of Diaconate Formation in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He teaches biblical studies in several other Catholic dioceses and was a member of the editorial board for the revision of the New Testament of the New American Bible. He is also a coeditor of SBL Press’s John, Jesus, and History volumes (2007–).

Tom Thatcher is a retired Professor of Biblical Studies, cofounder of The John, Jesus, and History Project, and former chair of SBL’s Johannine Literature Section and Bible in Ancient and Modern Media Section. Tom is the author or editor of more than twenty books on the Johannine literature and early Christian media culture, including SBL Press’s John, Jesus, and History volumes (2007–).

Praise for John, Jesus, and History, Volume 5

This extensive collection of essays takes seriously the proposition that the gospels, including the Johannine Gospel, are sources for remembering the historical Jesus, although both “remembering” and “historical” here are notoriously problematic terms.  Spanning a number of years and progressive scholarly interactions, the essays examine central issues in both concepts, grounding the discussion in analysis of the traditions, their formation and evolution.  The results are simultaneously traditional and revisionist, with emphasis on both social (or constructed) memory and lived (or performed) renditions within social settings.   

L. Michael White, R.N. Smith Professor Emeritus, The University of Texas at Austin, author of Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite (2010)

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