The Gospel of John

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, Australia Rudolf 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.