Becoming John

In this new analysis of the Gospel of John, Kari Syreeni argues that the gospel is a heavily reworked edition of an earlier Johannine work, and that the original did not include Jesus passion. Syreeni theorizes that the original gospel ended at Chapter 12, with the notion of Jesus disappearance from the world, and that the passion narrative was incorporated by a later editor freely using the existing gospels of Mark and Matthew. Syreeni suggests that the letters of John written after the predecessor gospels but before the final edition reveal a schism in the Johannine community that was caused by the majority factions acceptance of Jesus death and resurrection, as it was then recorded in the new gospel. By exploring the gospels different means of legitimizing the passion story, such as the creation of the Beloved Disciple to witness Jesus passion, and the foreshadowing of the resurrection of Jesus in the miracle of Lazarus, Syreeni provides a bold and provocative case for a new understanding of John.