The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple: Narrative, History, and Theology in the Gospel of John

“This substantive collection of essays focuses and reenergizes the debate over the historical reliability of the Gospel of John. With probing questions, methodological rigor, and revisionist zeal, Bauckham challenges the 'dominant approach' at every turn. Whether he will manage to unseat it remains to be seen, but Johannine scholarship is well served by his thought-provoking critique.”

“As always, Bauckham is brilliant, providing a fresh rethinking of issues based on his breadth of knowledge of early Judaism and Christianity. While well conversant with current scholarly discussions, he marshals new data and new ideas in ways that invite new perspectives. This work offers insights on various Johannine topics and merits center stage in any new discussions of history in John's Gospel.”

“This collection of twelve essays on historical and theological Johannine problems, written between 1993 and 2007, is preluded by a comprehensive introduction containing a scholarly program for Johannine research in the future. These studies will give us quite new stimuli for our understanding of the Gospel of John, for Professor Bauckham illuminates neglected historical and theological features of this unique text, which Clement of Alexandria rightly called the 'spiritual Gospel.' The author demonstrates that in our exegesis of John, philological accuracy, profound historical knowledge, and genuine theological understanding must work together to gain new insights.”

“The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple is more than a collection of Richard Bauckham's essays on the Fourth Gospel. Taken as a whole, it is a programmatic statement of the author's thesis and argument, the crux of which is embodied in the title. If one infers that Bauckham believes the Johannine community of scholarship has largely gone off the rails, that would not be wrong. He proposes to set it right by paying close attention to the Gospel's own data and claims and by canvassing and assessing the considerable body of evidence bearing on this Gospel in patristic sources. This has not been done in a long time and perhaps never as thoroughly and with such penetrating critical insight. That Bauckham has a thesis to set out and defend makes his book all the more interesting and important. It should be set alongside his extensive treatment of the Fourth Gospel in Jesus and the Eyewitnesses.”