Throughout much of the twentieth century the Fourth Gospel took a back seat to the Synoptics when it came to historical reliability. Consequently, the contemporary quest of the historical Jesus discounted or excluded evidence from the Fourth Gospel.The question of the historical reliability of John's Gospel is well overdue for a thorough reinvestigation and reassessment. In this foundational study, Craig L. Blomberg sheds new light on persistent questions. He presents his conclusions largely in commentary form, following the principal scenes of the Gospel. His introduction frames the pathway into the discussion, taking up critical issues such as
authorship, date and provenance of the Fourth Gospel
sources and omissions of the Fourth Gospel
points where John's Gospel interlocks with the Synoptics
general indications of historicity
literary genre and unique audience of this Gospel
burden of proof and criteria of authenticity
In his commentary examining the text of the Fourth Gospel, Blomberg asks two essential questions. First, using the recently nuanced criteria of authenticity, "What positive evidence do we have that the actions or words of the characters in John's narratives are indeed historical?" Second, "Is there anything in the text . . . that is implausible within the historical context to which it is attributed, particularly if we assume the general historical trustworthiness of the Synoptics?"The result is a seminal work for the present day--one that affirms the historical reliability of John's Gospel with intelligence and sure-footed care.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
A Compelling Defense of the 4th Gospel:
Craig Blomberg, a scholar that specializes in the studies of the historical reliability of the Gospels, has written a volume that is an essential-read for those seeking a solid, in-depth defense of this Gospel's historicity and for those wishing to collect and become familiar with material (positive or negative) that deals with this subject. The reviewer below has given the basic outline of the book so I'll just elaborate briefly on the most important section. The meat of the book, which is the... more info
A worthy read:
I haven't finished with this book yet, but I see it has been around a while, and there are no reviews at all, so I thought I'd at least add some preliminary observations to help prospective readers.
Blomberg, of course, writes from the perspective of a fairly conservative evangelical. I am not (or, more accurately, no longer) an evangelical, and yet I find Blomberg is one of a handful of evangelical biblical scholars who deserves to be read and taken seriously by non-evangelicals.
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