The Historical Reliability of John's Gospel: Issues & Commentary (Hardcover)

~ Craig L. Blomberg (Author) "In his recent book Is John's Gospel True?..." (more)
Key Phrases: New Testament, Fourth Evangelist, John the Baptist (more...)

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Product Description

Throughout much of the twentieth century the Fourth Gospel took a back seat to the Synoptics when it came to historical reliability. Consequently, the contemporary quest of the historical Jesus discounted or excluded evidence from the Fourth Gospel.The question of the historical reliability of John's Gospel is well overdue for a thorough reinvestigation and reassessment. In this foundational study, Craig L. Blomberg sheds new light on persistent questions. He presents his conclusions largely in commentary form, following the principal scenes of the Gospel. His introduction frames the pathway into the discussion, taking up critical issues such as

• authorship, date and provenance of the Fourth Gospel
• sources and omissions of the Fourth Gospel
• points where John's Gospel interlocks with the Synoptics
• general indications of historicity
• literary genre and unique audience of this Gospel
• burden of proof and criteria of authenticity

In his commentary examining the text of the Fourth Gospel, Blomberg asks two essential questions. First, using the recently nuanced criteria of authenticity, "What positive evidence do we have that the actions or words of the characters in John's narratives are indeed historical?" Second, "Is there anything in the text . . . that is implausible within the historical context to which it is attributed, particularly if we assume the general historical trustworthiness of the Synoptics?"The result is a seminal work for the present day--one that affirms the historical reliability of John's Gospel with intelligence and sure-footed care.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 346 pages
• Publisher: InterVarsity Press (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830826858
• ISBN-13: 978-0830826858
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #762,950 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Defense of the 4th Gospel, July 27, 2004

By	Lamont S (Lexington, Kentucky United States) - See all my reviews

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Craig Blomberg, a scholar that specializes in the studies of the historical reliability of the Gospels, has written a volume that is an essential-read for those seeking a solid, in-depth defense of this Gospel's historicity and for those wishing to collect and become familiar with material (positive or negative) that deals with this subject.

The reviewer below has given the basic outline of the book so I'll just elaborate briefly on the most important section. The meat of the book, which is the commentary section, moves through each chapter analyzing all of the events and discourses, discussing positive indicators of historicity and interacting with typical objections to it.

The major objection to the Gospel of John is how different the book is, theologically, from the Synoptic Tradition. Why is there so much of a difference in outline? Why is Jesus portrayed as being more explicit about his divinity in this book? Another major problem scholars face when approaching this book is differentiating the actual words of Jesus (that John is quoting) from the author's own theological reflections. Scholars, evangelical and critical, as a whole, are not nearly as optimistic about the historicity of this Gospel in comparison with the Synoptics.

Nevertheless, I find that Blomberg makes a great case for the overall reliability of John. The commentary section starts off with a discussion of the crucial question of authorship. If indeed the disciple John is the author of this Gospel, then the probability that the Gospel is generally historically reliable becomes very likely. After all, John, as a disciple that accompanied Jesus during his ministry, would have certainly been in a great position to record accurate history regarding these events, which in most cases he was an eyewitness. Not surprisingly, the majority of scholars reject traditional authorship. However, Blomberg manages to piece together a very solid case for Johannine authorship, beginning with the very important data of the testimony of the early church on this issue.

As far as the actual commentary is concerned, one aspect that is particularly helpful, and very revealing I might add, is how Blomberg constantly demonstrates that the concepts in John can be gleaned from references to the Synoptic Tradition as well. It may be somewhat surprising to the reader to discover that certain phrases and concepts propounded by Jesus in John's Gospel can be found, though usually in less explicit form, in the Synoptics themselves.

The discussions of the various miracles, including the turning of water into wine, the raising of Lazarus, the feeding of the 5,000, and Christ's resurrection also prove to be helpful as each passage is broken down, arguments against historicity are countered, and favorable indications of historicity are given.

While more could be said, hopefully this will suffice. A more detailed review that may be more helpful to the reader can be accessed from tektonics.org. I'll conclude by stating emphatically that Blomberg has written a volume that demands consideration from the scholarly world, particularly those that are the most critical of John's Gospel.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John's Gospel Defended, July 16, 2009

By	Marc Axelrod (Potter, Wi USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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Blomberg does a loose exposition of John's Gospel, providing running commentary along the way, bringing out facts that show that John was more than just theological art. It is also a historically reliable writing. This pleases me as an evangelical, though it doesn't mean I am on board with all that Blomberg says, either. He has a rather lengthy defense of Johannine authorship, which is better at knocking back other contenders for authorship than it is at making his own case. Blomberg relies on the external testimony of others outside the Bible (Polycarp, Justin Martyr), even though the internal evidence within John's Gospel is nebulous at best. I think the Gospel reflects the memories of the Beloved disciple and that this beloved disciple was probably Lazarus, based on a reading of John 11:2-4, compared with the other "disciple whom Jesus loved" texts.

Blomberg also defends the thesis that the cleansing of the temple in John 2 is a separate event from the cleansing mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels toward the climax of Jesus' ministry. Blomberg also shows that the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well makes good historical sense, and that the Nicodemus of John 3 could be the Nicodemus Ben Gurion of history.

Blomberg also highlights the historical accuracy of the geography in John 5, the realistic details of the intra-Jewish debate between Jesus and the Pharisees, and even the likelihood of an informal excommunication policy in John 9:22.

Blomberg also defends the idea that the fellowship meal in John 13 was indeed the Passover meal of Matthew 26 and Mark 14.

Blomberg also defends the essential historicity of the details of the Passion Narrative.

While I would hesitate to say that this book is as great as his other writings on the Gospels, Blomberg does the body of Christ a great service with this book. It doesn't replace the need to use other Johannine commentaries, as this one is selective in nature and highlights the texts that shed light on historically substantial issues. But it is a great aid for the expositor.

14 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A worthy read, July 19, 2004

By	www.DavidLRattigan.com (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

I haven't finished with this book yet, but I see it has been around a while, and there are no reviews at all, so I thought I'd at least add some preliminary observations to help prospective readers.

Blomberg, of course, writes from the perspective of a fairly conservative evangelical. I am not (or, more accurately, no longer) an evangelical, and yet I find Blomberg is one of a handful of evangelical biblical scholars who deserves to be read and taken seriously by non-evangelicals.

The format here is very simple: a) an introduction to the historical issues surrounding John's gospel, a rundown of the Johannine distinctives that cause scholars to doubt its historicity, and a survey of the main arguments concerning authorship, genre and critical methodology; b) a commentary on the text of John, dealing with the historical issues as they arise; c) a conclusion.

By no means does Blomberg simply opt for the most conservative interpretation available, although he certainly argues for the general historical trustworthiness of John's gospel. My biggest concern is what he'll do with all the theological padding, especially the high christology of some of the discourse attributed to Jesus himself -- for me personally, that is one of the most historically dubious aspects of the gospel (and I say that as a trinitarian who has no problem affirming the deity of Christ). I haven't gotten very far into the commentary itself yet, so it remains to be seen what Blomberg argues.

Two things that would have made the book an easier read are footnotes, rather than the awkward references scattered in parentheses throughout the book as it is, and also the text of John itself alongside the commentary, for convenient reference.