The Gospel of John: A Commentary - 2-Volume Set [Hardcover]

Craig S. Keener (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

Keener’s commentary explores the Jewish and Greco-Roman settings of John more deeply than previous works, paying special attention to social-historical and rhetorical features of the Gospel. It cites about 4,000 different secondary sources and uses over 20,000 references from ancient literature.

"Sixteen hundred pages is a lot of pages for a commentary on the Gospel of John, surpassing Raymond Brown and almost matching Rudolf Schnackenburg’s three volumes. But Craig Keener has given us far more than a commentary. He has invited us into the world of that Gospel and made it a magnificent window into the thought and practice of early Judaism and, to a lesser extent, the whole Greco-Roman world of the first century. At the same time, he has made those first-century worlds a lens through which to view the Gospel of John itself. The reader will find this work a treasure trove of information about the origins of Christianity, shedding light on such questions as what is a Gospel? how reliable are the four Gospels in their portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth? and in particular how reliable is the Gospel of John? Keener presents a compelling case for viewing Jesus himself within the framework of early Judaism, and for both the Jewishness and the essential reliability of the traditions about Jesus preserved in John’s Gospel. Keener’s introduction runs to well over three hundred pages, and his bibliography to almost two hundred.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If you are looking for a good all-rounder, [with] serious scholarship without forfeiting readability, then this is worth the investment." -- Regent’s Reviews, Spring 2004

"Keener’s commentary is set to make a major contribution to the field for years to come." -- Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, June 2004

"This is a serious commentary that will also serve as a rich bibliographical resource." -- The Bible Today, May/June 2004

From the Inside Flap

"Keener’s commentary is marked by intelligence as well as comprehensiveness. In the marshalling of relevant materials from John’s own milieu and in the canvassing of modern scholarly literature, Keener is unsurpassed in his generation of Johannine scholars. . . . Serious interpreters of the Gospel of John will not always agree with Keener’s conclusions, but they must take account of his work."
—D. Moody Smith Jr., George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament, Duke University, past President of Society of Biblical Literature

"With his comprehensive treatment of the relevant ancient literature Keener plants the Fourth Gospel deep in the soil of its time and place. The author’s meticulous and encyclopedic documentation of both ancient and contemporary literature makes this a commentary of supreme importance for any who wish to crack the Johannine puzzle. You may not always agree with Keener, but I am confident you will admire and learn from his careful scholarship."
—Robert Kysar, Emeritus Bandy Professor of Preaching and New Testament, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

"Keener’s detailed knowledge of the ancient sources is enviable. He provides a wealth of documentation on the ancient Mediterranean cultural, social, political, religious, and literary milieu of the Fourth Gospel. On numerous occasions his discussion of Jewish and Greco-Roman cultural conventions aids appreciation of the details of John’s narrative. His commentary is therefore a mine of illuminating background material for all students of this Gospel. Its social-historical focus makes it an excellent complement to those commentaries which concentrate more on literary and theological matters.
—Andrew Lincoln, Portland Chair in New Testament Studies, University of Gloucestershire, England

"This exhaustive commentary on the Gospel of John is an example of evangelical scholarship at its best. Keener relentlessly pursues all the possible sources for the Johannine story. The historical Jesus, early Christian tradition, Palestinian, rabbinic, and the Mediterranean worlds are his regular points of extensive reference. Keener’s reading of the Fourth Gospel as a story written for a rejected Jewish community, claiming they are the true Israel, and that Jesus is the perfection of the gift of Torah, raises questions that must be taken into account by future Johannine scholarship."
—Francis J. Moloney, SDB, Katharine Drexel Professor of Religious Studies, The Catholic University of America, past President of Catholic Biblical Association.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1636 pages
• Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565633784
• ISBN-13: 978-1565633780
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #981,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Craig Keener is professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky. Three of his many books have won national awards, and his background commentary has sold over half a million copies (including electronic copies and translations). Craig is married to Dr. Medine Moussounga Keener, who holds a Ph.D. from University of Paris 7. She was a refugee for 18 months in her nation of Congo, and together Craig and Médine work for ethnic reconciliation in the U.S. and Africa.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Commentary, January 27, 2007

By 

J. F Foster - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Gospel of John: A Commentary - 2-Volume Set (Hardcover)

Craig Keener has given us a rather magisterial work on the Fourth Gospel with this 2 volume commentary. Keener approaches the text from a moderately charismatic perspective, and as a non-charismatic, I am very pleased that someone of Keener's tradition has delivered such a scholarly and well researched work for the benefit of the church at-large.

Keener does a very good job of laying down the ground rules of his approach at the outset of his commentary. Keener's main purpose to analyze the Fourth Gospel within its own socio-historical context. With this in mind, the reader will find a breathtaking array of references to ancient sources throughout the commentary to give weight to Keener's 'original audience/context' interpretive approach. Keener is refreshingly candid in acknowledging the limitations inherent in this approach (but of course, there are limitations to any interpretive approach), such as less emphasis on conversing with other more modern scholars who hold to different interpretive approaches. But his particular approach is indeed the valuable and fairly unique contribution to Johannine studies that he seeks.

Keener's introduction deals with issues of authorship, the Johannine community, the issue of 'the Jews', genre, and other overarching issues. The reader will find a very organized and well laid-out presentation of these issues. Keener puts forth a generally conservative view on authorship that is very well reasoned and irenic. Keener's proposal on 'the Jews' issue is also very well done and thought provoking. Here in particular, he has made a very real contribution to a very important discussion.

Keener's interaction with the text is also quite good, if imperfect. Keener deserves great commendation for periodically touching on the much neglected issue of hospitality in the Fourth Gospel (though he could have done much more with this). I felt Keener did a very good job of mostly avoiding the convenient theoretical speculation that tends to dominate most Fourth Gospel commentaries, and to instead focus his interpretive energies on drawing from many other sources contemporary to the Fourth Gospel to draw his conclusions. While there are risks to doing this, it is a far more careful and responsible approach to exegesis than forcing modern day paradigms and theories onto the Fourth Gospel and making it fit, a la Bultmann, Brown, and many others.

I will note a few quibbles I have with this work, but the reader should understand that these are indeed quibbles and do not severely detract from the high quality Keener has given us. First, while the average reader will likely be blown away by the depth and breadth of Keener's bibliography, there are a number of important omissions that are unfortunate. It is unusual to me that Keener did not converse with Lieu's important article on the Johannine view of blindness, particularly in his treatment of John 12. In addition, it is very surprising that in Keener's introductory treatment of the alleged sectarian nature of the Johannine community, no mention is made of Gundry's provocative assertions. This is particularly odd since Keener does cite a number of other works by Gundry, some of which are much farther off topic than Gundry's work on the 'sectarian John'. Lastly, this commentary, like many others, fails the reader when it comes to practical application. Keener's treatment of 'the Jews' question is helpful in this regard, but it is shame that this work tends to reflect the false dichotomy that one cannot produce a scholarly commentary if it emphasizes practical application. To the contrary, theology and exegesis cannot be done well in a vacuum, and Keener knows this because of his heavy interaction with sources contemporary with the Fourth Gospel. But what Keener does so well here he does not do well when it comes to taking the Fourth Gospel's implications for the original audience and responsibly applying them to contemporary life today. A failure to embrace this step in the exegetical process puts an unnecessary cap on its usefulness within the church, and it's a shame because it didn't have to be that way.

But overall, there is little argument that Keener has provided a very valuable study of the Fourth Gospel that provides an outstanding basis to conduct further research and compensate for the weaknesses I've suggested above. Well done, and highly recommended.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the All Time Great Commentaries on John, May 13, 2008

By 

Anne Rice "Anne Rice" (Little Paradise, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Gospel of John: A Commentary - 2-Volume Set (Hardcover)

This two-volume work is one that I keep right on my desk every day, year in and year out, as I study Scripture. What astonishes me is the sheer scope of Keener's knowledge, and the clear and engaging way that he presents his conclusions. He treats the skeptics with the requisite generosity and patience to which I've become accustomed when reading the brilliant scholarship of a believer, and his knowledge of ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish writers is breath-taking. This and his work on Matthew are immense contributions to the field of New Testament Scholarship. I find all Keener's work to be accessible for mainstream people such as myself, who cannot read the ancient languages. The comprehensive nature of Keener's approach, the way he truly does explain just about every conceivable interpretation of a passage is simply amazing. I turn to him constantly for insight, and go back over material again and again discovering something new each time. Make this part of your library.

37 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional commentary on gospel of John, September 21, 2004

By 

Duder (Langley, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gospel of John: A Commentary - 2-Volume Set (Hardcover)

Though this is not a cheap commentary by any stretch of the mind, it is an commentary well worth every cent spent to obtain it! When the introduction to the material itself is a couple of hundred pages alone you know that you are in for an amazing ride.

The scholar is an evangelical who appears to be part of the 'new breed' of evangelical scholars who do not shy away from asking the most difficult questions about the text and its meaning(s).

This edition has great binding and is easy on the eyes. Between the two volumes there are over 4000 references, too.

Highly recommended.