A Way of Reading John’s Gospel

Book excerpt: John's Gospel presents a compelling eyewitness account of Jesus' mission. It is written in simple language but consists of a rich profusion of ideas and themes that challenge the most learned scholars and can overwhelm the understanding of ordinary readers. Surprisingly, part of this complexity arises from the observation that the text appears to be rich in chiastic structures. This literary form is a Jewish style of writing, in which a series of ideas or themes is developed and then repeated in reverse order. (This pattern may be represented as, for example, A-B-C-D-D′-C′-B′-A′.) When the reader takes cognizance of this literary convention, the multiplicity of ideas falls into a more tractable pattern. This book is written by a layman for other ordinary readers in the hope that it will facilitate understanding of this Gospel in church and home study groups, Bible classes and schools, and family and personal devotions.