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... John was agrammatoi or illiterate it remains problematic that a man of Johns education wrote such a complex and theologically significant document. The second figure proposed is John the Elder. This character is mentioned in the second and third epistles to John. Eusebius also quotes Papias when he mentions that John the Elder met the apostles. Martin Hengel claims the author of the gospel was a converted Jewish priest, which could explain the Jerusalem aspect to the gospel and the knowledge of Jewish events and there importance.
Hengel also highlights the fact John was a common priests name in Palestine around the time. Chapter 18 v 15 - 17 to an other disciple who was able to let Peter in to Jesus trail. This person would have had to have some connections with the Sadducees to be able to do this. Hengel says this other disciple is John.
Papias also suggests that he lived to a very old age that would account for the death of a disciple in the epilogue to the gospel. C. H. Dodd also adds that in Asia Minor the title elder meant someone who had met the disciples.
However, the assumption of old age is not automatically credible. Also, Eusebius was writing for a specific purpose when he quoted Papias, he wanted to prove that there were two Johns at Ephetas and hence that John the apostle did not write the book of Revelation. He wanted to do so as he disagreed with the apocalyptic nature and theology of the book, so we must keep in mind what Eusebius was writing to achieve. The third figure suggested is not very convincing.
John Mark, as proposed for the authorship of the second gospel. In Acts 12 v 12 and 4 v 36 Barnabus is mentioned as a priestly figure or from such a background. In Colossians 4 v 10 Mark is mentioned as Barnabuss cousin. Philemon v 24 links John Mark with Luke, there are similarities between Luke and Johns gospel such as Jesus consumption of food after the resurrection.
However, the argument is decidedly weak and it is also totally implausible that John Mark wrote both the second and the fourth gospels. R. E. Browne suggests looking for an individual author is somewhat pointless and that scholars would do better to look for evidence of the Johanian community, the we mentioned in 21 v 24. He proposes five stages of editing which came together to form a unique theological synthesis. The dating of the fourth gospel is also based around three main models.
First, J. A. T Robinson and S. Smalley propose an extremely early dating for proto-John, around the mid first century, making it the earliest gospel.
They argue some traditions in the fourth gospel reflect an undeveloped theology over some issues, like John the Baptist. In the synoptics the ministries of Jesus and John the Baptist are kept separate but in John they overlap, chapter 4 v 1. They argue that the later synoptics are merely making the point of Johns preparation for Jesus clearer or tidying up. Other indications of early authorship include the eyewitness style of the accounts, especially the preservation of detail about the crucifixion in chapter 19 like the other criminals legs being broken in 19 v 32 and the spear thrust in 19 v 34. Both these are early traditions and suggest an eyewitness account.
However, the gospel also contains Hellenistic features as well as Jewish ideas and all these events must be attributed to editing to justify the theory. This theory also negates the reference to the synoptics, which is not obvious but can be argued, for example the Bread of Life discourse in chapter 6 v 53 is very Eucharistic. Also John seems to edit the synoptics for theological reasons, for example his omission of Jesus baptism perhaps to avoid encouraging Baptist sects and the placement of the cleansing of the temple in the second chapter. Second is the theory supported by most scholars that suggests a dating around the turn of the first century, after the synoptics allowing for reference to, and possible editing of, them. The gospel refers to Jews in a very general fashion, the nondescript term Jews is used 71 times, suggesting it was written after the fall of Jerusalem in 71 A. D when separate Jewish groups ceased to exist.
The attitude of the gospel towards Jews sees a permanent split between Judaism and early Christianity; events such as the expulsion of early Christians from synagogues (9 v 22) are recorded. This dating sets the gospel in an environment of relative hostility between Jews and early Christians, which could explain theological hostility to the Jews present in the fourth gospel. Third is a late dating of around 150 - 200 A. D, the idea was popular in the early 20 th century.
The Hellenistic themes and words in the fourth gospel and the Nicademus Discourse led them to believe the gospel had been written much later than the synoptics at a time when Gnostic ideas were known to be more popular. The discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls presented a serious threat to the credibility of this model. The scrolls, found in 1948, used many examples of Gnostic beliefs and vocabulary. Hence Gnostic themes existed much earlier than first imagined and were present in apocalyptic Judaism before the time of Christ. The location of Johns gospel is concerned with three main sites. First, Ephesus in Asia Minor.
Irenaeus cites John here while writing in the late second century; Ignatius of Antioch and Justin Martyr both express a link between the two writing in the early second century. Heretics also made reference to John; the Montarists used Johns unique word for the Holy Spirit, which was Paraclete. The Book of Revelation, which was definitely written in Asia Minor, has two distinct similarities. First, referring to Jesus as the lamb of God that occurs in John 1 v 29 and chapter five of Revelation. Second is the idea of the water of life being something that Jesus gives to his followers, this is mentioned in Revelation chapter 22 and is also presented in the story about the Samaritan women in John chapter four. The book of Revelation was both written in Asia Minor and also sent to all the major cities in the area.
The mixture of Jewish and Hellenistic ideas in the four...
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