Normative Christianity and the Gospel of John

Abstract

<p>The present study is an attempt to contribute to two areas of inquiry in New Testament studies. The first is the debate on orthodoxy and heresy in early Christianity. The second is the interpretation of the Fourth Gospel.</p> <p>With reference to the orthodoxy/heresy theme, the effort of the dissertation is to propose and justify a question new to the contemporary debate; namely, whether, and in what terms, a Christian theologian of the New Testament era consciously intended to make his work cohere with Divine Revelation conceived as truth. In the present study the theologian in question is "the decisive redactor" of the Fourth Gospel. The dissertation argues that in elaborating themes such as those bearing on the "Spirit of truth" and "the disciple whom Jesus loved" the Evangelist has rooted a deep and pervasive concern for orthodoxy in the thematic core of Johannine theology: especially in the themes of "truth" and of Jesus as himself the truth (In. 14:6).</p> <p>The main thrust of the study is exegetical. But, although limited to the understanding of one universe of discourse Johannine theology -- it has wider implications and belongs ultimately to a larger context: the understanding of early Christianity and its commitment to truth.</p>