{"id":25306,"date":"2014-07-23T17:11:16","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T21:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=25306"},"modified":"2014-07-23T17:11:16","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T21:11:16","slug":"the-gospel-of-john-as-jewish-mystical-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/07\/the-gospel-of-john-as-jewish-mystical-work.html","title":{"rendered":"The Gospel of John as Jewish Mystical Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One of the features of the new Bible Odyssey website<\/a> is that it lets you ask a scholar your questions. Someone submitted the question through the site, \u201cIs the Gospel of John a Jewish mystic work?\u201d I was invited to provide the answer, and here is what I wrote:<\/p>\n

\n

It is appropriate to note that there are scholars who would deny that the Gospel of John is Jewish and\/or that it is mystical. My own view, however, is that there is good reason to answer the question in the affirmative. The Fourth Gospel has not only the Jewish Scriptures, but Jewish traditions of interpretation, woven into its very fabric, and the Christians by and for whom it was written had previously been expelled from their local synagogue by other Jews who disagreed with their views. The prologue (1:1-18) presents the lens through which the Gospel author wishes Jesus to be viewed, and it shares key concepts with the Jewish mystical philosopher Philo of Alexandria. The Gospel speaks of visions (1:51), which were an important part of mysticism, and emphasizes union with Jesus and ultimately with God through the Spirit. It is possible that Jesus himself is viewed as a mystic, one who speaks with the divine voice because the divine Word\/Spirit dwells in him. For all these reasons and more, the Gospel of John seems aptly described as a \u201cJewish mystical work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You can read my recommendations for further reading, as well as othe questions with answers by Nicola Denzey Lewis and Mark Goodacre, on the Bible Odyssey website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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One of the features of the new Bible Odyssey website is that it lets you ask a scholar your questions. Someone submitted the question through the site, \u201cIs the Gospel of John a Jewish mystic work?\u201d I was invited to provide the answer, and here is what I wrote: It is appropriate to note that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[4095,7838,7840,7841,9075],"class_list":["post-25306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel-of-john","tag-gospel-of-john","tag-mystic","tag-mystical","tag-mysticism","tag-philo"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Gospel of John as Jewish Mystical Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the features of the new Bible Odyssey website is that it lets you ask a scholar your questions. 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