In his comprehensive survey, Understanding the Fourth Gospel (Oxford University Press, 1991), John Ashton divides the history of modern Johannine scholarship into three epochs: Before Bultmann, Bultmann, and After Bultmann. The reference is, of course, to the towering commentary on John (English translation 1971) by Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976). In Ashton’s view, which many would share, J. Louis Martyn’s History and Theology in the