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The conflict between Christianity and Roman Imperial theology manifested at very early stages in Christian history. Richard Cassidy argues that ignoring or downplaying such political-theological implications because of some supposedly manifest separation between spiritual belief and politics is both shortsighted and unbiblical. In this fascinating and original reading of the Gospel of John, it becomes clear that Christology is not merely theological theorizing, but a matter of immense political import.The conflict between Christianity and Roman Imperial theology manifested at very early stages in Christian history. Richard Cassidy argues that ignoring or downplaying such political-theological implications because of some supposedly manifest separation between spiritual belief and politics is both shortsighted and unbiblical. In this fascinating and original reading of the Gospel of John, it becomes clear that Christology is not merely theological theorizing, but a matter of immense political import.END:""Succeeds in demonstrating a scarcely-noticed major concern of the Fourth Gospel: to provide guidance to Christians of the time in facing hostile Roman authorities. Cassidy interprets the work as a whole as well as selected passages on this basis, greatly enhancing the realism and depth of the story. Special praise is due to his lucid writing on so intricate a subject . . . His presentation is no less balanced for being original.""--David Daube, University of California, Berkeley""This valuable study of the Gospel of John offers a new approach to the setting and purpose of the book. Cassidy relies on the Gospel itself to argue that it supports Christians facing persecution and possible martyrdom in a Roman imperial campaign against [them] at the end of the first century . . . [His] picture supplements and rounds the others out, shedding fresh light on old texts."" --Robert M. Grant, University of Chicago""This startling thesis . . . illuminates an aspect of John virtually overlooked by Johannine scholars and [yet] not incompatible with [its] traditionally recognized purposes . . . With particular sensitivity to the Roman context, Cassidy solidly demonstrates the correlation between particular Johannine themes and elements of the text, and key terms and practices of the Roman authorities of the approximate time period . . . Cassidy''s insights . . . call for elaboration by those concerned with the sociopolitical background of the Fourth Gospel."" --Susan F. Mathews, University of Scranton""Well-known for his studies on the relationship of Luke-Acts and the Roman Empire, Cassidy here continues this line of research [examining] the Fourth Gospel as it consciously reflects knowledge of the Roman Empire, the cult of the Emperor, and the persecutions waged against the Christians. In this endeavor he utilizes John''s particular Christological titles and the implicit or explicit indications of persecution. In this way, Cassidy illustrates a neglected aspect of the Fourth Gospel, and brings it more into relationship with the Apocalypse."" --Giuseppe Segalla, Seminario Vescovile, Padua, ItalyRichard J. Cassidy serves as Professor of Sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. His most recent books are Paul in Chains: Roman Imprisonment and the Letters of Paul and Four Times Peter: Portrayals of Peter in the Four Gospels and at Philippi. He is currently completing a commentary on St. Paul''s Letter to the Philippians.

In The Composition and Order of the Fourth Gospel D. Moody Smith engages the masterful commentary on John by Rudolf Bultmann, evaluating critically his views of John''s sources, order, redaction, and meaning. A book every bit as helpful for understanding Bultmann''s work as the work itself, this book is now made accessible in paperback form fifty years after its original publication. Introduced admirably with a new foreword by the author''s former doctoral student, R. Alan Culpepper, the printing of this monograph makes for essential reading in Johannine studies and New Testament studies overall.""D. Moody Smith''s Composition and Order of the Fourth Gospel is an important milestone in American New Testament scholarship. Smith lays out in a clear and well-organized way the complex theory of Rudolf Bultmann about the fashioning of the Fourth Gospel, while also offering a respectful critique of the theory. Bultmann''s hypothesis in turn has stimulated a continuing scholarly dialogue about the process by which the distinctive literary and conceptual features of the Gospel were produced. Smith''s book remains a valuable resource for anyone concerned about that process.""--Harold W. Attridge, Sterling Professor of Divinity, Yale University Divinity School ""D. Moody Smith''s monograph on Bultmann''s literary theory is a landmark publication. It won him international recognition as one of the leading Johannine experts in the world. . . . Culpepper''s masterful introduction highlights the reasons why we need Smith''s research to again help us focus our search for the genius of the Fourth Evangelist.""--James H. Charlesworth, George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, Princeton Theological Seminary ""As Bultmann''s commentary on John may be considered the most provocative and influential New Testament monograph of the twentieth century, Smith''s engagement of it poses its most important analysis. Here, with an outstanding forward by Alan Culpepper, this pivotal monograph is now available to a new generation of readers in a timely and accessible paperback form. Delighted!"" --Paul N. Anderson, Professor of Biblical and Quaker Studies, George Fox UniversityD. Moody Smith served at Duke University Divinity School as the George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament since 1965 (now Emeritus) and as President of the Society of Biblical Literature in 1999. He is author of six books on the New Testament and many published essays.

If John 6 can be considered ""the Grand Central Station of Johannine Critical issues,"" Peder Borgen''s 1965 monograph, Bread from Heaven, proved to be one of the most incisive and important monographs on that difficult chapter. With extensive implications for addressing a host of other New Testament issues--including the unity and disunity of John''s narrative, relations between Johannine and Synoptic traditions, and the socio-religious context of the Fourth Gospel--Borgen''s work argues hard for a unitive view of the Johannine text. Rather than seeing John''s story of Jesus as an amalgam of disparate sources, or as dependent on the Synoptics, Borgen explores a number of commonalities between contemporary Jewish writings, including the writings of Philo and haggadic midrashim. In so doing, new glimpses are also availed onto the dialectical Johannine situation, including an antidocetic thrust as well as Johannine-synagogue engagements. The enduring impact of Borgen''s work shows the Fourth Gospel to represent a self-standing tradition, characterized by Jewish engagements of biblical texts, contributing to homiletic expansions upon memories of the ministry of Jesus for later generations.--From the Foreword by Paul N. AndersonCritical praise for Bread from Heaven:""The thorough treatment of the Johannine ideas and the Christological teaching of the discourse makes this a book which no serious student of the Fourth Gospel can afford to neglect.""-- Barnabas Lindars, Journal of Theological Studies (1967)""Peder Borgen''s Bread from Heaven is a landmark in Johannine studies. It opened up new and compelling ways of understanding the Fourth Gospel''s composition and relationship to its Jewish context. His method of discerning homiletical patterns in the Bread of Life discourse, the writings of Philo, and rabbinic sources has helped interpreters appreciate the literary flow and rhetorical force of the John''s text. Now more than fifty years later, scholars continue to benefit by engaging Borgen''s pioneering study. It is rightly considered a classic study of the Fourth Gospel.""-- Craig R. Koester, Asher O. and Carrie Nasby Professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MNPeder Borgen is Professor Emeritus of the University of Trondheim in Norway and author of ten books and numerous essays. He served as President of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas and was appointed Knight First Class of the Norwegian Order of St. Olav by the King of Norway.

From the Foreword by Paul N. Anderson:""Among the most provocative New Testament scholars of the tweitieth century, Ernst Kasemann tops the list, and his most striking work is The Testament of Jesus. This brief book is significant not because the bulk of Johannine scholars have fully agreed with it; indeed, most have taken exception to many of its points. The impact of Kasemann''s 1966 Shaffer Lectures, delivered at Yale Divinity School and rendered in book form in German and English over the next couple of years, lay in his capacity to communicate worthy insights in sharp and provocative ways, blocking some paths of discussion while opening others.... The Testament of Jesus cannot simply be read. It can only be engaged--refuted and embraced--and dialectically so.""Critical Acclaim for The Testament of Jesus by Ernst Kasemann:""This stunning reaction to Bultmann''s Johannine interpretation follows in the path of F.C. Baur and William Wrede, sharing the critical sharpness and polemic of both. Kasemann''s eye for theological controversy and his passionate theological engagement challenge traditional assumptions and invite us to hear the text and read the evangelist''s critics in fresh ways.""                -- Robert Morgan, University of Oxford""One of the most influential, albeit highly controversial, studies of the Fourth Gospel in recent decades is Ernst Kasemann''s The Testament of Jesus. Although the book''s subtitle, ''A Study of the Gospel of John in Light of Chapter 17,'' suggests an exegetical analysis of that chapter, this is no plodding commentary. Rather, the study offers a provocative and sometimes irritating sketch of Johannine theology.""-- Marianne Meye Thompson, Fuller Theological Seminary""All his writing demonstrates his conviction that ''true dialogue depends on meeting, irritating and stimulating each other precisely where the stakes are the highest.'' That describes this book nicely, for it represents Kasemann at his iconoclastic best.""-- Wayne Meeks, Yale UniversityErnst Kasemann (1906-1998) served as a professor of New Testament at Universities of Mainz (1946-51), Gottingen (1951-59), and Tubingen (1959-71), where he became Emeritus Professor and continued to write, lecture, and engage. His antithetical engagements with his mentor, Rudolf Bultmann, are legendary; he served as President of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS) in 1972.

"As the first volume in the Johannine Monograph Series, The Gospel of John: A Commentary by Rudolf Bultmann well deserves this place of pride. Indeed, this provocative commentary is arguably the most important New Testament monograph in the twentieth century, perhaps second only to The Quest of the Historical Jesus by Albert Schweitzer. In contrasting Bultmann''s and Schweitzer''s paradigms, however, we find that Bultmann''s is far more technically argued and original, commanding hegemony among other early-Christianity paradigms. Ernst Haenchen has described Bultmann''s commentary as a giant oak tree in whose shade nothing could grow, and indeed, this reference accurately describes its dominance among Continental Protestant scholarship over the course of several decades.""Rudolf Bultmann was unquestionably the most outstanding New Testament scholar of the twentieth century, and his commentary on John was probably his most outstanding achievement. Although no one now shares his conviction that the Gospel was built largely upon a gnostic source, his penetrating intelligence is in evidence on every page of this great commentary, which may never be surpassed.""--John Ashton, Emeritus Fellow, Wolfson College, Oxford University, UK""Although Bultmann''s literary hypothesis now fails to convince many scholars, his view that a form of Jewish gnosticism, evidenced in some of the texts from Qumran, provides an illuminating context for the interpretation of the creative theological response of the evangelist. Above all other aspects, Bultmann''s theological interpretation remains impressive and relevant, and justifies the judgment of Irenaeus and others, that this Gospel provides a compelling response to challenges to the meaning of the gospel.""--John Painter, Professor of Theology, Charles Sturt University, AustraliaRudolf Bultmann was for many years Professor of New Testament at the University of Marburg, Germany. He previously held this position at the Universities of Breslau and Giessen. He was a graduate of the Universities of Tubingen, Berlin, and Marburg."