Studying John: Approaches to the Fourth Gospel

by John Ashton

Is historical criticism of the New Testament dead? In this telling collection of eight new studies on John's Gospel, the author of the acclaimed Understanding the Fourth Gospel argues that this is very far from the case. Challenging the assumptions of methodologies that ignore the historical context in which the Gospel was composed, Ashton offers a spirited defense of historical criticism and provides practical demonstrations of the many new insights that it can still yield.

The first two chapters treat in greater depth two key themes (the Prologue of John and the Jews) which appeared in the author's earlier work. A third chapter supplements and corrects this larger work. The rest of the book explores further facets of the Gospel, and at the same time exposes some of the serious theoretical weaknesses in much recent writing on the Gospel.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published December 29, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Ashton, M.A., D.Litt. (1931-2016) was one of the foremost biblical scholars of his generation. He was a Fellow of Wolfson College and former lecturer in theology at Oxford University. He also taught in the Universities of London, St. Andrews, and Edinburgh. He authored numerous books and essays on religion and theology, writing extensively on the Gospel of John.