The Conceptual Worlds of the Fourth Gospel: Intertextuality and Early Reception - Paperback

by Charles B. Puskas (Author), C. Michael Robbins (Author)

Over, under, and through John's story of Jesus are unforgettable ideas and concepts, profoundly simple and simply profound, for the author's own audience and beyond. These ideas did not originate in a vacuum. They have recurred and been repeated before and after the writing of the Fourth Gospel. For this reason we will examine the meaning of its words and themes in the context of its Jewish-Greco-Roman milieu. Much of our intertextual understanding will be derived from alleged parallels that involve comparisons of similar vocabulary and phrases, as well as parallel concepts and images from the Old Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, and other relevant writings. Such parallels will help to determine the meaning of a word or expression, the translation of a particular language, determining any direct influences upon the Fourth Gospel, parallel traditions, or the influence of its ideas, as a creative and inspiring work of later antiquity.

Author Biography

Charles Puskas has extensive experience in university and seminary teaching, academic publishing, and parish ministry. He is the author of Hebrews, the General Letters, and Revelation (Cascade, 2016), The Conclusion of Luke-Acts (Pickwick, 2009), An Introduction to the New Testament (second edition with C. Michael Robbins; Cascade, 2011), and The Letters of Paul (second edition with Mark Reasoner, 2013).



C. Michael Robbins is adjunct professor emeritus of religion and philosophy in the Haggard School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University. He is the author of The Testing of Jesus in Q (2007) and with Steve Johnson has helped revise James Allen Hewett's New Testament Greek, with CD-ROM (2009).