Table Of ContentJOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
89
Executive Editor
Stanley E. Porter
Editorial Board
Richard Bauckham, David Catchpole, R. Alan Culpepper,
Joanna Dewey, James D.G. Dunn, Craig A. Evans, Robert Fowler,
Robert Jewett, Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Dan O. Via
JSOT Press
Sheffield
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Word and Glory
On the Exegetical and Theological
Background of John’s Prologue
Craig A* Evans
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Supplement Series 89
Copyright © 1993 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by JSOT Press
JSOT Press is an imprint of
Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
343 Fulwood Road
Sheffield S103BP
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Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
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Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain
by Biddies Ltd
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Evans, Craig A.
Word and Glory: On the Exegetical and
Theological Background of John's
Prologue. - (JSNT Supplement Series, ISSN
0143-5108; No. 89)
I. Title H. Series
226.5
ISBN l-85075-448r9
5'
CONTENTS
Preface 7
Abbreviations 10
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION: IN SEARCH OF THE JOHANNINE CONTEXT 13
Introduction 13
A Proposed Method 18
Testing the Method 20
Assessment 45
Chapter 2
GNOSTIC AND HERMETIC PARALLELS 47
Coptic Gnosticism 49
Syrian Gnosticism 67
Corpus Hermeticum 72
Assessment 75
Chapter 3
BIBLICAL PARALLELS 77
Genesis 1-2 and Exodus 33-34 77
Sirach 24 and Related Jewish Wisdom Traditions 83
Other Parallels from the LXX and Pseudepigrapha 86
Further Comments on Johannine Christology
and the Old Testament 94
Chapter 4
JEWISH INTERPRETIVE PARALLELS 100
Philo's Exegesis 100
Targumic and Midrashic Exegesis 114
memra and Jesus as logos 124
Targumic and Midrashic Tradition and the Prologue 130
Moses and Jesus as Agents of the Lord 135
Summary 144
6 Word and Glory
Chapter 5
THE PROVENANCE OF JOHN AND THE PROLOGUE 146
Parallels with Qumran and Other Palestinian Features 146
Rabbinic Terms and Methods 151
Targumic and Midrashic Traditions 157
Expulsion from the Synagogue 168
Use of the Old Testament 172
Summary 184
Chapter 6
COMMENTS ON METHOD 187
Assessing Parallels 187
Historical Factors 191
Conclusion 198
Bibliography 200
Index of References 220
Index of Names 240
PREFACE
Word and Glory: On the Exegetical and Theological Background of
John’s Prologue presents the results of an investigation into the ques-
tion of the origin and background of the Johannine Prologue (that is,
Jn 1.1-18). The book is narrowly focused in that it speaks to recent
claims that the most natural and illuminating background for under-
standing the Prologue is to be found in Gnosticism, particularly as
represented by the Coptic tractate from Nag Hammadi, the Trimor-
phic Protennoia. At the same time the book is broadly focused in that
it speaks to the more encompassing question of Johannine Christology
and context. The opening chapter reflects the narrower concerns and
provides the necessary historical background to the study. Although
many of the details of Rudolf Bultmann's classic hypothesis have been
discarded, the essence of his proposal, that Johannine Christology is
fundamentally indebted to a Gnostic myth, still exerts influence in
some quarters. Bultmann's use of late Mandaean sources provides the
occasion to work out criteria for assessing the relative value of
sources that offer 'parallels'. Lateness, of course, does not necessarily
disqualify a given source, but it does increase the burden of proof and
so necessitates the employment of rigorous criteria. The second
chapter reviews the major Gnostic contenders today, such as the
Coptic codices from Nag Hammadi. Parallels that have been adduced
from these writings are reviewed against the criteria worked out in
the first chapter.
The third chapter examines the biblical parallels and sources that
have been adduced, including those that are quite obvious and gene-
rally are universally acknowledged (such as Gen. 1 and Exod. 34) and
those that are perhaps not so well known (such as Prov. 8 and Sir.
24). The important issue that concerns this chapter is the question of
how much these biblical parallels account for the themes and
Christology of the Prologue and what, if anything, is left unexplained.
The fourth chapter investigates related exegeses, paraphrases and
interpretive traditions. Numerous parallels are adduced, most of which
8 Word and Glory
antedate the Fourth Gospel. Philo's logos, the targumic memra, and
various Moses traditions are given special attention. The evidence of
these two chapters suggests that the interpretive context of the
synagogue is the most likely provenance of Johannine Christology in
general and the Prologue in particular. The evidence further suggests
that Gnostic mythology probably had nothing to do with the
formulation of Johannine Christology.
This conclusion is tested further in the fifth chapter, which widens
the scope of the study by examining various other indicators of
provenance. The Fourth Evangelist's knowledge of Palestine, particu-
larly Judea and Jerusalem, his acquaintance with targumic and
midrashic diction and interpretive traditions, his repeated reference to
the threat of being excluded from the synagogue, and his general
indebtedness to the Old Testament for his Christology support the
conclusions reached in Chapters 3 and 4. The sixth chapter offers
several critical comments touching method, particularly with respect
to the assessment of parallels. The chapter also speaks to historical
matters (which Johannine critics often ignore) that add further
support to the conclusions of the previous chapters.
The appearance of two books in 1989 and 1990 prompted me to
undertake this investigation. The first was Martin Hengel's The
Johannine Question.1 For me this important book was a breath of
badly needed fresh air. Instead of tiring the scholarly community with
another subjective 'close reading' of the text, Hengel reexamines the
historical evidence, both external and internal, relating to the question
of authorship (which I treat briefly in the sixth chapter). The result is
a clearer understanding of both the author and his Gospel, an under-
standing that is almost always documented by solid evidence. I was
impressed when in the fall of 1987 I heard Professor Hengel read
portions of this book to students and faculty of Princeton Theological
Seminary. I was even more impressed when I read the book. The
anticipated appearance of the longer and more detailed German
version will no doubt offer still more grist for the mill.2
The second book that persuaded me that the present study is needed
was the second volume of the Festschrift for James M. Robinson,
1. London: SCM Press; Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1989.
2. Since I wrote this preface the book has appeared, entitled Die johanneische
Frage: Bin Losungsversuch (WUNT, 67; Tubingen: Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1993).
Preface 9
Gnosticism and the Early Christian World.1 Of particular interest
were essays by Gesine Robinson and Jack T. Sanders which either
assumed or argued that Bultmann's hypothesis, though not always his
arguments, is correct and that documents like the Odes of Solomon
and the Trimorphic Protennoia provide us with the best available
parallels to Johannine thought. I found these essays disturbing not so
much because their conclusions are at points quite erroneous, but
because they exhibit insufficient awareness of the problems attending
the utilization of documents that significantly postdate the writings of
the New Testament. I found these essays, as well as the earlier studies
of Bultmann and James Robinson, puzzling in that ancient writings
which offer better parallels and which unquestionably antedate the
Fourth Gospel are either minimized or ignored altogether. It is rather
like straining at the gnat and swallowing the camel.
I hope in this book to accomplish three things: (1) to clarify the
interpretive background of the Johannine Prologue; (2) to clarify the
provenance of the Fourth Gospel itself; and (3) to establish criteria
for evaluating 'parallels', especially those found in documents that
postdate the New Testament.
I salute my colleagues here at Trinity, as well as those who gather
monthly at Vancouver School of Theology for a time of friendly dis-
cussion. It was in this setting that an early and much shorter form of
this book was given an airing.
C.A. Evans
Trinity Western University
Langley, British Columbia
January, 1993
1. J.E. Goehring et al. (eds.), Gnosticism and the Early Christian World
(Sonoma, CA: Polebridge, 1990).
