Discovering John: Content, Interpretation, Reception

By Ruth Edwards

The Gospel of John has been the subject of intense scrutiny for centuries. It has profoundly shaped Christian doctrine and inspired artists, musicians, theoligans and ordinary Christians. Despite the Gospel's ability to communicate the good news to the simple believer while plumbing the depths of Christian faith for the sophisticated, it has been sharply criticised as 'world-denying', 'androcentric' and 'anti-Jewish'. What should we make of a Gospel that provokes such diverse reactions? Does John still have meaning for the Church and contemporary society? Does it need to be reinterpreted for today's world? Is it anti-Semitic? In this masterly study, Ruth Edwards seeks to help those interested in this provocative Gospel decide for themselves the answers to these and other questions. "Ruth Edwards has written a lucid and concise introduction to the Gospel of John. Her book manages to condense a generation of scholarship into a highly readable account which will be a great boon to all students of this profound if enigmatic book." Christopher Rowland, Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SPCK
• Release date: Mar 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9780281069705

Ruth Edwards

Ruth B. Edwards is an honorary Senior Lecturer at Aberdeen University, where she taught New Testament for many years. She has written books on Greek legends and archaeology, women’s ministry, the Johannine Epistles, and John’s Gospel (Discovering John , ed. 2, SPCK, 2014). She is a priest of the Scottish Episcopal Church.