John the Theologian and his Paschal Gospel

This study brings three different kinds of readers of the Gospel of John together with the theological goal of understanding what is meant by Incarnation and how it relates to Pascha, the Passion of Christ, how this is conceived of as revelation, and how we speak of it. The first group of readers are the Christian writers from the early centuries, some of whom (such as Irenaeus of Lyons) stood in direct continuity, through Polycarp of Smyrna, with John himself. Inexploring these writers, John Behr offers a glimpse of the figure of John and the celebration of Pascha, which held to have started with him. The second group of readers are modern scriptural scholars, from whom we learn of the apocalyptic dimensions of John's Gospel and the way in which it presents the life of Christ in terms of the Temple and its feasts. With Christ's own body, finally erected on the Cross, being the true Temple in an offering of love rather than a sacrifice for sin. An offering in which Jesus becomes the flesh he offers for consumption, the bread which descends from heaven, so that 'incarnation' is not an eventnow in the past, but the embodiment of God in those who follow Christ in the present. The third reader is Michel Henry, a French Phenomenologist, whose reading of John opens up further surprising dimensions of this Gospel, which yet align with those uncovered in the first parts of this work. This thought-provoking work brings these threads together to reflect on the nature and task of Christian theology.

This is an important, highly learned work on the reception of John's Gospel and the ways that its message shape both theology and Christian practice. Scholars, theologians, and historians of interpretation will be edified by this book, as it pertains to the ways that different communities read the same scripture differently, as well as the way that the book illuminates relationships between interpretation, theology, and practice as it pertains to the Gospel of John., The three parts of the work are thus engaged with a different body of scholarship - historical investigation, scriptuarl exegesis, and philosophical reflection- which are brought together in the conclusion with a constructive theological purpose, such that the work is understood as itself a prologue to theology., The book raises many fine points of dialogue that are engaging and worth exploring in detail. Remarkably, Behr manages to work through his three diverse approaches while maintaining his own larger coherent argument, in itself a real achievement., In this impressive work, Behr leads readers through John's Gospel as a guide. What he accomplishes in the pages of this book is tremendous, and each bend in the road, though sometimes unexpected, is valuable., Behr has produced a staggering accomplishment of disciplinary synthesis, as well as theological and exegetical creativity and erudition.

John Behr is the Regius Chair in Humanity at the University of Aberdeen. He previously served as Fr George's Florovsky Distinguished Professor of Patristics at St Vladimir's Seminary, where he acted as Dean from 2007-17, and the Metropolitan Kallistos Chair of Orthodox Theology at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. His publications include critical editions and translations of the fragments of Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopuestia (2011) andOrigen's On First Principles (2017). He is the author of Irenaeus of Lyons: Identifying Christianity (2013), Becoming Human: Theological Anthropology in Word and Image (2013), and Asceticism and Anthropology in Irenaeus and Clement (2000).