John, evangelist and interpreter

by Stephen S. Smalley

In this fully revised edition of his well-established study of John, Stephen Smalley reviews and evaluates all the significant issues and critical problems of recent Johannine interpretation. He argues for the unique integrity of this Gospel, a work firmly rooted in the historical Jesus and yet drawing out the deeper significance of Jesus' words and deeds.

Genres: Biblical Studies, New Testament

287 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[John Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've long been in thrall to John's gospel: I love its mystical language. It's the gospel I'm most interested in, having studied the synoptics years ago, almost in another life!

Stephen Smalley's volume was an impulsive buy whilst browsing in a favourite book shop. I read it was meant for academics/scholars and perhaps I should have been deterred rather than seeing it as a challenge. It is dense, weighty, scholarly and rigorously sourced (ie 1/3 footnotes to 2/3 text): so it was hard going at times. It was balanced (almost infuriatingly so, nothing controversial here) as the author regards John's gospel to be.

The last 20 pages or so almost made my uphill ploughing worthwhile. This was when he “got down to brass tacks”, to use a northernism. Now I must re-read the Blessed John and see what benefit, if any, I've gained from this.

[Matthew Prydden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen Smalley attacks the wayward theories of liberal theology on its own ground, using reasoned arguments and a lot of common sense to draw conclusions that land within the conservative scope, nullifying any liberal response having used their own weapons against them. On a few issues I felt Smalley didn't quite go far enough, but even so, having spent a lot of time exploring academic theology of various kinds, this book was a refreshing change and ought to be an valuable book for any conservative scholar.

[Kingsley Layton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helped develop my considerable love of this gospel.