Reading John Through Johannine Lenses demonstrates that the model an interpreter chooses for examining the Gospel of John significantly impacts the resulting interpretation. The Fourth Evangelist uses key words in the prologue in order to guide the reader toward key moments in the gospel. Stan Harstine shows how four words— life, word, receive, and believe— converge at transition points in John 5, 12, and 17. Their close relationship is not random; rather, it guides the reader to recall what the Gospel has presented in the preceding section, providing a road map for understanding the narrative. By using interpretive models from both diachronic and synchronic methodologies, Harstine’s comparison of traditional historical methods with more recent narrative and rhetorical methods demonstrates the wide disparity of results from prior approaches, thus accentuating the importance of reading the Fourth Gospel through the lenses it provides its readers.
Reading John Through Johannine Lenses demonstrates that the model an interpreter chooses for examining the Gospel of John significantly impacts the resulting interpretation. The Fourth Evangelist uses key words in the prologue in order to guide the reader toward key moments in the gospel. Stan Harstine shows how four words— life, word, receive, and believe— converge at transition points in John 5, 12, and 17. Their close relationship is not random; rather, it guides the reader to recall what the Gospel has presented in the preceding section, providing a road map for understanding the narrative. By using interpretive models from both diachronic and synchronic methodologies, Harstine’s comparison of traditional historical methods with more recent narrative and rhetorical methods demonstrates the wide disparity of results from prior approaches, thus accentuating the importance of reading the Fourth Gospel through the lenses it provides its readers.
Chapter 1: Identifying Johannine Lenses in The Prologue
Chapter 2: Reading John with Two Thematic Lenses
Chapter 3: Viewing John 5 Through Assorted Lenses
Chapter 4: Viewing John 12 Through Assorted Lenses
Chapter 5: Viewing John 17 Through Assorted Lenses
Chapter 6: Closing Observations
Stan Harstine is professor of religion at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas.
This book will serve teachers and students well as it makes sense
of the often-bewildering cacophony of methodologies and
interpretations of John. Harstine establishes the prologue as the
introductory prism for key themes and terms in the Gospel, then
surveys historical, narratological, and rhetorical approaches to
the prologue and chapters 5, 12, and 17, carrying the development
of John’s major themes through these chapters. The payoff is a
heightened appreciation for the complexity of the Gospel and the
role of the approaches (lenses) one uses in reading it, yet what
emerges is the unity of the Gospel’s authorial voice.
*R. Alan Culpepper, Mercer University*
Stan Harstine has been taken with the intricate details of the
Gospel of John for a long time now, which makes him a wonderful
scholar and teacher of it. What makes the book unique is the
combination of features Harstine has so skillfully woven together:
a broad, up-to-date introduction to a variety of interpretive
methods; attention to themes that span the Gospel (Life, Word,
Receive, Believe); fleshing out methods and themes by focusing upon
specific passages (Prologue, John 5, 12, and 17), and offering new
insights through his own original exegesis (which additionally
showcases the connection between the Prologue and the rest of the
Gospel).Taking the oral context of the Gospel’s earliest audiences
seriously, Harstine carefully and clearly guides us through a
journey through this Gospel that reveals its literary and
theological brilliance. All who are interested in John, novices and
seasoned readers alike, will learn from this book. I will certainly
use it in my own Gospel of John seminar.
*Jaime Clark-Soles, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist
University*
In this wonderful new book, Harstine provides a way through the
maze of approaches to the Gospel of John by focusing on the hues
the prologue brings to key passages. This book provides an
excellent and accessible introduction to the history of
interpretation of John while thoughtfully illustrating ways key
themes from the prologue shape the narrative, rhetoric, and
theology of John. Rather than ending the conversation, Harstine’s
analysis invites readers to continue looking back to the story of
John, aware of the lenses they bring to the task.
*Alicia D. Myers, Campbell University Divinity School*
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