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Sorry but this is realy hard to get whats the use of this stuff. So it would be good to link it to nonlinear optics and give some more words about the numbers and the picture you give.[[User:Stone|Stone]] 18:06, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
{{Books of the New Testament}}
The '''''Gospel of John''''' is the fourth [[gospel]] in the sequence of the [[Biblical canon|canon]] as printed in the [[New Testament]], and scholars agree it was the fourth to be written. Like the other three gospels, it contains an account of the life of [[Jesus]].
I think this should be moved to [[Cesium Lithium Borate]]
The Church Fathers believed only ''The Gospel of John'' and ''The [[Gospel of Matthew]]'' to be written by disciples of Jesus. The ''Gospel of John'' is the most divergent of the four. While the "[[beloved disciple]]," who is traditionally identified as [[John the Apostle]], has previously been regarded as the author, this is now disputed especially among higher critical scholars.
==Authorship and date==
''Main article'': [[Authorship of the Johannine works]]
While conservative scholars place the gospel around [[Anno Domini|AD]] 85, some scholars place the writing of the final edition of ''John'' later in the first or early second century. The text itself states only that the Fourth Gospel was written by an anonymous follower of Jesus referred to as the ''Beloved Disciple''. Traditionally he was identified as [[John the Apostle]], who was believed to have lived at the end of his life at [[Ephesus]].
The dating is important since ''John'' is agreed to be the last of the canonical Gospels to have been written and thus marks the end date of their composition.<!--a circularity-->
Scholarly research since the 19th century has questioned the apostle John's authorship, however, and has presented internal evidence that the work was written many decades after the events it describes.
The text of the Gospel of John provides strong evidence that it was written before the destruction of the Temple in AD [[70]] (JOhn 5:2). Today, most critical scholars are of the opinion that ''John'' was composed in stages (probably two or three), beginning at an unknown time ([[50]]-[[70]]?) and culminating in the final edition (''Gospel of John'') around [[95]]-[[100]]. This final date is assumed in large part because ''John'' 21, the so-called "[[John 21|appendix" to ''John'']], is largely concerned with explaining the death of the "beloved disciple," probably the leader of the Johannine community that produced the gospel. If this leader had been a follower of Jesus, or a disciple of one of Jesus' followers, then a death around 90-100 is expected. This claim has been rejected by conservative scholars.
Like the other gospels according to critical scholars, ''John'' was certainly based on previous texts that are now lost. The contemporary scholar of the Johannine community [[Raymond E. Brown]] identifies three layers of text in the Fourth Gospel (a situation that is paralleled by the [[synoptic gospel]]s): an initial version Brown considers based on personal experience of Jesus, a structured literary creation by "the evangelist," which draws upon other sources, and the edited version that readers know today (Brown 1979).
A fragmentary scrap of papyrus discovered in Egypt in [[1920]], now at the [[John Rylands Library]], [[Manchester, UK|Manchester]], accession number P52 (see link below), bears parts of ''John'' 18:31 - 33 on one side and 18:37 - 38 on the other. If it has been correctly dated in the first half of the second century (by C. F. Roberts), it ranks as the earliest known fragment of the New Testament in any language. Fuller details are at the entry on the [[Rylands Library Papyrus P52]].
Skepticism about the date (not about the fragment's authenticity) is based on two issues. First, no other scrap of Greek has ever been so narrowly dated based on the handwriting alone, without the support of textual evidence. Second, this fragment is not of a scroll but from a [[codex]]; a book not a roll. If it dates to the first half of the second century, this fragment would be an uncharacteristically early example of a codex, the form that superseded the scroll. Since this fragment is small—about nine by five centimeters— it is uncertain whether it comes from a full copy of the ''John'' that we know. Nevertheless, while some experts in [[paleography]] have objected to the dating, it is agreed that this piece of papyrus is the earliest text for any portion of the New Testament. Its closest rival in date is the [[Egerton Gospel]], a mid-second-century fragment of a codex that records a gospel not identical to any of the canonical four, but which has closer parallels with ''John'' than with the synoptic gospels. Thus the Egerton Gospel may represent a less-developed example of the same tradition (though in a slightly later example).
Brent Nongbri writes in the conclusion to the essay "The Use and Abuse of P52: Papyrological Pitfalls in the Dating of the Fourth Gospel" (''Harvard Theological Review'' 98 [2005], page 48): "What emerges from this survey is nothing surprising to papyrologists: paleography is not the most effective method for dating texts, particularly those written in a literary hand. Roberts himself noted this point in his edition of P52. The real problem is the way scholars of the New Testament have used and abused papyrological evidence. I have not radically revised Roberts's work. I have not provided any third-century documentary papyri that are absolute "dead ringers" for the handwriting of P52, and even had I done so, that would not force us to date P52 at some exact point in the third century. Paleographic evidence does not work that way. What I have done is to show that any serious consideration of the window of possible dates for P52 must include dates in the later second and early third centuries. Thus, P52 cannot be used as evidence to silence other debates about the existence (or non-existence) of the Gospel of John in the first half of the second century. Only a papyrus containing an explicit date or one found in a clear archaeological stratigraphic context could do the work scholars want P52 to do. As it stands now, the papyrological evidence should take a second place to other forms of evidence in addressing debates about the dating of the Fourth Gospel."
Many hold that the Revelation was written before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Among those who held this position was the late Foy Wallace Jr.
There are other theories of authorship. One of the most dramatic is the claim by Ramon K. Jusino that ''John'' was written by [[Mary Magdalene]]. [http://www.beloveddisciple.org/ "Mary Magdalene, author of the Fourth Gospel?'], 1998, available on-line.
==Sources==
A hypothesis elaborated by German bibilical scholar [[Rudolf Bultmann]] in ''Das Evangelium des Johannes'', 1941 (translated as ''The Gospel of John: A Commentary,'' 1971), suggested that the author of ''John'' depended in part on an oral miracles tradition or a written manuscript of Christ's miracles that was independent of the synoptic gospels, whose authors did not use it. This has been labelled a "[[Signs Gospel]]" and alleged to have been circulating before [[70|AD 70]]: evidently it is lost. Even readers who doubt that such a document can be precisely identified have noticed the remnants of a numbering associated with some of the miracles that appear in the canonical ''Gospel of John.'' Textual critics have noted that, of the miracles that are mentioned only by John, all of them occur before ''John'' 12:37; that these "signs" are unusually dramatic; and that these "signs" (''semeia'' is uniquely John's expression) are accomplished in order to ''call forth'' faith. These miracles are different, not only from the rest of the "signs" in ''John'', but also from all of the miracles in the three synoptic gospels, which according to this interpretation occur ''as a result'' of faith. These characteristics may be independently assessed by a reader who returns to the text. One conclusion is that John was reinterpreting an early Hellenistic tradition of Jesus as a wonder-worker, the "magician" that would fit within the Hellenistic world view. These ideas were so hotly denied that [[heresy]] proceedings were instituted against Bultmann and his writings. (See more detailed discussions linked below.)
Further arguments that Jesus is also known as a "Divine Man, Wonder-worker (One who is favored by the Gods), or even a Sorcerer" in the late 3rd and 4th centuries have also been given as an interpretation of the art portraying Jesus with a magic wand. Since this art exists only in the western part of the Roman Empire, it has been suggested this is a tie to [[Arianism]]. Peter is the only apostle, portrayed in early Christian art, who also carries a wand. These wands are thought to be symbols of power. This art, since its discovery, has not been kept in secret by the Catholic church.
==Handling of source material ==
It is notable that the Gospel's opening prologue in John 1:1-18 consciously echoes the opening motif of the book of ''[[Genesis (Hebrew Bible)]].'' Beyond this clear emphasis, there has been much debate over the centuries as to the origin of the theological background of the prologue: is it a formula of Hellenistic [[rhetoric]], traditional Jewish wisdom, or some type of Qumran-like [[Dead Sea scrolls]] metaphysic? By the beginning of the 21st century, the pendulum of scholarly opinion has swung back to a traditional Jewish background for the prologue. While Genesis 1 focuses on God's creation of the world, John 1 focuses on the Word (or [[Logos]] in the Greek) and all that the Word accomplished by coming into the world. The Johannine gospel identifies the [[Logos]] as [[Jesus]]. This internal contrast and comparison implies that John is in effect stating that Jesus is the Second Adam as described by [[Paul of Tarsus]], the apostle. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:45 states the First Adam of Genesis as a man who became "a living being", while the Second Adam ([[Jesus]]) is "a lifegiving spirit." Apparently with Paul's previously distributed epistle in mind, John aims not only to show Jesus as the Son of God but also to confound the [[Jew]]s by superseding the ''[[incipit]]'' of their earliest historical book.
==Structure==
After the prologue (1:1-5), the narrative of this gospel begins with verse 6, and consists of two parts. The first part (1:6-ch. 12) contains the story of [[Jesus]]' public ministry from the time of his baptismal initiation by [[John the Baptist]] to its close. The second part (ch. 13-21) presents Jesus in the retirement of private life and in his dialog with his immediate followers (13-17), and gives an account of his sufferings and [[crucifixion]] and of his appearances to the disciples after his resurrection (18-20). Chapter 21, the "appendix" recounting the death of the "beloved disciple," follows.
The ''Gospel of John'' is easily distinguished from the three [[Synoptic Gospels]], which share a more considerable amount of text and describe much more of Jesus' life. By contrast, the specific peculiarities of John are notable, especially in their effect on modern Christianity.
John gives far more focus in his work to the mystical relation of the Son to the Father. As a Gospel writer, he essentially developed the concept of the [[Trinity]] while the Synoptic Gospels had focused less directly on Jesus as the Son of God. John makes far more direct claims of Jesus being the only Son of God in favour of Jesus as the Son of Man. The gospel also focuses on the relation of the Redeemer to believers, the announcement of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter (Greek ''[[Paraclete]]''), and the prominence of love as an element in the Christian character.
==Popular Passages in the Gospel==
[[John 3 16|John 3:16]] is one of the most widely known passages in the New Testament: ''For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'' According to the professional mens' and Bible distribution society [[Gideons International]], John 3:16 has been translated into more than 1,100 languages.
==Characteristics of the ''Gospel of John''==
The Greek of this gospel is elegant, and its theology subtle and sophisticated, with many parallels in Hellenistic thought.
Some of the passages in this book are alleged to be [[Christian_anti-Semitism|anti-Semitic]], mainly due to the emphasis placed on the responsibility of the Jews (especially the Jewish leaders in Judea) for the Crucifixion. The Gospel uses the term "the Jews" to categorize some of Jesus' detractors. However, it is important to remember that the author was most likely Jewish himself, speaking to a largely Jewish community, and therefore we must be careful applying a 21st language lens on a 1st century expression. Nonetheless, these passages were appropriated and used in negative ways by some Christian groups in certain periods of history to persecute Jewish people, being quoted to justify ''[[odium theologicum]]''. Other critics read this shift of emphasis to the Jewish public enemies of the Roman ''imperium'' and away from the Roman authorities, who actually carried out the execution, as a technique of rendering a developing Christianity more palatable in official circles. It is because of this that some politically-correct English translations (like the controversial [[Today's New International Version]]) remove the term "Jews" and replace them with non-offensive terms so as to remove alleged anti-Semitism. Critics of these translations state that when John uses "Jews," he is not referring to all Jews (as John, Jesus and his disciples were all Jews) but to the Jewish leaders (the Sanhedrin) in Judea who openly oppose Jesus. These same critics argued that those people who believe that the Gospel of John is "anti-Semitic" failed to understand how the term "Jews" is actually used.
Unlike the synoptic Gospels, elements of [[Gnosticism]] have been recognized by some readers in the ''Gospel of John'' though it is not generally regarded as a "Gnostic gospel". In order to find passages that refute [[Gnosticism]]—by stating that Christ is approachable even as Spirit—readers must turn instead to the ''[[First Epistle of John]]'', in passages such as 1 Jn 2:1-2; 3:8,16 and 4:2,3. The earliest copies of the ''Gospel of John'' are also from Gnostic sources that include overtly Gnostic writings<!--this needs to be more specific-->, implying that ''John'' was read by Gnostic groups. One school of interpretation distinguishes between "Johannine Christianity" and "Pauline Christianity". The ''[[gnosis]]'' in Gnosticism is secret information that is available only to initiates. In the Gnostic view, salvation comes through "knowledge" that Jesus is the Christ -- those who understand his true nature are saved, those who don't "stand condemned already."
Though ''John'' is not a "secret" gospel—as other surviving apocryphal ("secret") gospels and fragments claim to be—the narrative is interrupted at an important turn of events just before the Crucifixion, for nearly five chapters (''John 13''–18) of private discourse and teachings that Jesus shares only with the disciples, the "farewell discourses", which are without parallel in the synoptic gospels, in their present version (but compare the ''[[Secret Gospel of Mark]]'').
===Other characteristics unique to ''John''===
<!--the trivial ones should be omitted-->
*The Apostle [[Thomas]] is given a personality beyond a mere name, as "Doubting Thomas" (20:27 etc).
*Jesus refers to himself with metaphoric "I am" saying seven times (6:35) (8:12) (10:9) (10:11) (11:25) (14:6) (15:1)
*Two "signs" are numbered (2:11) (4:54)
*There are no stories about Satan, demons or exorcisms, no predictions of end times, no [[Sermon on the Mount]], and no ethical or apocalyptic teachings.
*The hourly time is given: Greek text: about the tenth hour, translated as "four o'clock in the afternoon" [first hour is 6 AM, sundial time] (1:39)
*When the water at the pool of Bethsaida is moved by an angel it heals (5:3-4)
*Jesus says he is not going to the festival. However, after his brothers had gone, he too goes, but in secret for not all to see (7:8-10)
*According to the ''New American Bible'', Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, 1970, the [[Pericope_Adulter%C3%A6|story of the adultress]] (8:1-11) is missing from the best early Greek manuscripts. When it does appear it is at different places: here, after (7:36) or at the end of this gospel. It can also be found at [[Luke 21:38]].
*Jesus washes the disciples' feet (13:3-16)
*No other women are mentioned going to the tomb with [[Mary Magdalene]]. She seems to be alone. ([[John 20:1|20:1]])
*Mary Magdalene visits the empty tomb twice. She believes Jesus' body has been stolen. The second time she sees two angels. They do not tell her Jesus is risen. They only ask why she is crying. Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener. He tells Mary ''not to'' touch (or cling to) him. ([[John 20|20]]:[[John 20:1|1]]-[[John 20:18|18]]) Yet, in the same chapter (20:28) Jesus asks Thomas to touch him and to place his fingers and hand in Jesus' still open wounds. At the sight of Jesus, Thomas gives an exclamation of faith but if he follows Jesus' direction, it is not explicit in the text.
*Some of the brethren thought the "disciple whom Jesus loved" would not die, and an explanation is given for his death. (21:23)
*The "disciple whom Jesus loved" wrote down things he had witnessed, and his testimony is asserted by a third party to be true (21:24)
*The beloved disciple (traditionally believed to be the Apostle John) is never named.
==Chapters==
<table border="0"><tr><td valign="top">
*[[John 1]]
*[[John 2]]
*[[John 3]]
*[[John 4]]
*[[John Chapter 5|John 5]]
*[[John 6]]
*[[John 7]]
</td><td valign="top">
*[[John 8]]
*[[John 9]]
*[[John 10]]
*[[John 11]]
*[[John 12]]
*[[John 13]]
*[[John 14]]
</td><td valign="top">
*[[John 15]]
*[[John 16]]
*[[John 17]]
*[[John 18]]
*[[John 19]]
*[[John 20]]
*[[John 21]]
</td></tr></table>
==See also==
* [[John 3:16]]
* [[Pericope Adulteræ]]
* [[Gospel of Mark]]
* [[The Gospel of John (movie)|The Gospel of John]] (movie)
* [[Ancient History]]
* [[Anti-Semitism in the Gospel of John]]
==References==
* Raymond E. Brown, ''The Gospel According to John'' Anchor Bible, 1966, 1970
* Raymond E. Brown, ''The Community of the Beloved Disciple'' Paulist Press, 1979
* Robin M. Jensen, ''The Two Faces of Jesus'', Bible Review Oct 2002, p42
==External links==
{{wikibooks}}
Online translations of the [[Gospel of John]]:
* {{biblegateway||John}}
*[http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/egerton.html The Egerton Gospel:] text. Compare it with ''Gospel of John''
Related articles:
*[http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~wie/TCG/TC-John.pdf A textual commentary on the Gospel of John] Detailed textcritical discussion of the 300 most important variants of the Greek text (PDF, 376 pages)
*[http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/signs.html "Signs Gospel"]. a hypothetical written source for miracles in the ''Gospel of John'': discussion
*[http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data1/dg/text/fragment.htm Papyrus fragment of ''John'' at the John Rylands Library;] illustrated.
*[http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/greek/johnpap.html John Rylands papyrus:] text, translation, illustration and a bibliography of the discussion
<center>
<br>
{| border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse"
|- bgcolor="darkgray"
|colspan=3|<Center>'''Books of the Bible'''
|- bgcolor="gainsboro"
|Preceded by:<br><Center>[[Gospel of Luke|Luke]]
|'''[[Gospels]]'''
|Followed by:<br><Center>[[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]]
|}
</center>
[[Category:New Testament books|John]]
[[Category:New Testament narrative|John]]
[[cs:Evangelium podle Jana]]
[[de:Evangelium nach Johannes]]
[[et:Johannese evangeelium]]
[[es:Evangelio de Juan]]
[[eo:La Evangelio laŭ Sankta Johano]]
[[fr:Évangile selon Jean]]
[[ko:요한 복음서]]
[[id:Injil Yohanes]]
[[ia:Evangelio secundo Johannes]]
[[nl:Evangelie naar Johannes]]
[[ja:ヨハネによる福音書]]
[[pl:Ewangelia Jana]]
[[pt:Evangelho segundo São João]]
[[fi:Evankeliumi Johanneksen mukaan]]
[[sv:Johannesevangeliet]]
[[zh:若望福音]]
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