The Gospel of John is often found at the center of discussions about the Bible and its relation to Christian theology. It is difficult to quantify the impact John’s Gospel has had on both the historical development of Christian doctrine and the various expressions of Christian devotion. All too often, however, readers have failed to understand the Gospel as an autonomous text with its own unique story to tell. More often than not, the Gospel of John is swept into a reading approach that either conflates or attempts to harmonize with other accounts of Jesus‘ life. This book emphasizes the uniqueness of John’s story of Jesus and attempts to provide readers with a road map for appreciating the historical context and literary features of the text. The aim of this book is to help others become better, more perceptive readers of the Gospel of John, with an ability to trace the rhetoric of the narrative from beginning to end.
Über den Autor
Christopher W. Skinner (Ph.D., The Catholic University of America) is Associate Professor of Religion and Director of the Honors Program at the University of Mount Olive where he was the 2013-2014 Professor of the Year. He has also taught at East Carolina University, Loyola University (Maryland) and the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and University, where he was the Dunning Distinguished Lecturer for Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship during the 2008-2009 academic year. His research interests include narrative hermeneutics, the canonical Gospels (with specific emphasis on the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Mark), the Gospel of Thomas, the historical Jesus, and the intersection between the Bible and popular media. In addition to numerous articles and essays, he has published seven books. He is a long-suffering fan of the Washington Redskins and Baltimore Orioles. A native of Chesapeake, Virginia, he currently lives in eastern North Carolina with his wife Tara and their three children.