THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO
JOHN
(I–XII)
Introduction, Translation, and Notes
by
RAYMOND E. BROWN, S.S.
VOLUME 29
THE ANCHOR YALE BIBLE
Yale University Press | New Haven and London |
First published in 1966 by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. First paperback edition published 2006. First Yale University Press impression 2008.
Copyright © 1966 by Yale University as assignee from Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Original Jacket Illustration by Paul Hogarth
nihil obstat
Myles M. Bourke, S.S.L., S.T.D., Censor Librorum
imprimatur
Terence J. Cooke, D.D.
February 24, 1966, New York
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-12209
ISBN 978-0-300-14052-1
Volume 29 of The Anchor Bible is the first part of a three-volume translation of and commentary on John and the Johannine Epistles. It contains an introduction to the whole Gospel and a treatment of chs. 1–12, or the Johannine account of the public ministry of Jesus (the Gospel itself has a break at the end of ch. 12). The second volume (vol. 29A) will contain a treatment of chs. 13–21 of the Gospel, or the account of the Last Supper, the passion of Jesus, and the appearances of the risen Jesus. The third volume (vol. 30) will introduce and comment on the three Johannine Epistles. The two Gospel volumes (29 and 29A) should be of about the same length, and indexes to the whole will appear at the end of vol. 29A.
The tremendous amount of scholarly work on John in the last few years and a notable change in the direction of Johannine studies (see Introduction, Part I) have made necessary a somewhat longer and more detailed commentary than has hitherto been the custom in the Anchor Bible series. However, we trust that the reader will not begrudge the greater expenditure of time and effort required by these volumes, for the Fourth Gospel is more than worthy of all the time and effort we can give to it. A. Harnack once remarked that this Gospel is one of the great enigmas of the early history of Christianity, and more recently C. H. Dodd has made the claim that if we can understand John, we shall know what early Christianity really was. It is easy to understand that such a work, which is both enigma and keystone, requires extensive explanation. A translation with brief notes would serve no purpose here, for the many important commentaries on John already in existence would, by comparison, immediately expose with brutal clarity the superficiality of an inadequate treatment.
Only with considerable hesitation has the present writer undertaken this project of another commentary on John, precisely because there are already many excellent commentaries in English and in German. However, the ...
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About The Gospel according to John (I–XII): Introduction, Translation and NotesIn the first volume of Raymond E. Brown’s magisterial commentary on the Gospel According to John, all of the major Johannine questions—of authorship, composition, dating, the relationship of John to the Synoptics (Mark, Matthew, and Luke)—are discussed. The important theories of modern biblical scholarship concerning John are weighed against the evidence given in the text and against prevailing biblical research. In sum, what is attempted is a synthesis of the major scholarly insights that bear on the Fourth Gospel. The translation—as Father Brown states at the outset—strives not for any formal beauty but rather for an accurate and contemporary version: “the simple, everyday Greek of the Gospel has been rendered into the ordinary American English of today.” The result is a translation that will strike the reader with uncommon immediacy. Father Brown also analyzes, in the appendixes, the meaning, use, and frequency of certain key words and phrases that occur in John, and examines the differences between the Johannine and Synoptic treatments of the miracle stories. The chapters of the Gospel translated here (1–12) comprise the Prologue, which opens with the famous “In the beginning was the Word,” and the Book of Signs, an account of the miracles of Jesus and of his ministry. |
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