Overview

Why is the Gospel of John different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke? Many scholars have suggested that John felt more free than the other evangelists to massage the facts in the service of his theological goals and to put embellishments into the mouth of Jesus. Such freedom supposedly accounts for the discourses in John, for Jesus' way of speaking in John, and for (at least) the time, place, and manner of various incidents. Analytic philosopher Lydia McGrew refutes these claims, arguing in detail that John never invents material and that he is robustly reliable and honestly historical. The Eye of the Beholder: The Gospel of John as Historical Reportage is unique in several respects. 1) It delves in more detail than previous works do into the meaning of common scholarly phrases like ""Johannine idiom"" and applies careful distinctions to defend the recognizable historicity of Jesus' spoken words in John. 2) It focuses especially on arguments that have impressed some prominent evangelical scholars, thus refuting the unspoken assumption that if a scholar dubbed ""conservative"" is moved by an argument against full Gospel historicity, it must be strong. 3) It argues positively for the historicity of John's Gospel using evidences that are not commonly discussed in the 21st century, including undesigned coincidences, unexplained allusions, and the unified personality of Jesus. 4) While the body of the book will be congenial to many who accept Richard Bauckham's ""elder John"" theory of authorship, The Eye of the Beholder features a lengthy appendix on that question, including original arguments for authorship by the son of Zebedee. Meticulously argued and engagingly written, The Eye of the Beholder contains a wealth of material that will be helpful to seminarians, pastors, and laymen interested in the reliability of the Gospel of John.

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9781947929159

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McGrew makes a strong case for what she calls historical reportage as a means of reading and understanding John's Gospel as a reliable and trustworthy account of the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus. McGrew's opponents dare not dismiss this set of arguments. Stanley Porter Lydia McGrew shows how strong a case can be mounted for the entire Gospel as historical reportage when one does not begin with certain commonly asserted but unproven and implausible scholarly hypotheses about John's composition. Craig L. Blomberg The idea that the Gospel of John represents both profound theology and genuine history isn't fashionable today, but McGrew demonstrates, with a battery of arguments and incisive reasoning, that the entirety of the Fourth Gospel is faithful to history. John as an eyewitness reports accurately what Jesus said and did. Thomas R. Schreiner Lydia McGrew builds a robust case for seeing the Fourth Gospel as a self-standing apostolic memory of Jesus and his ministry, worthy of full consideration alongside the Synoptics as a lens through which to view more clearly the Jesus of history as well as the Christ of faith. In this philosophic critique of Gospel ahistoricity, the author forces critical scholars to doubt their doubts as well as default alternatives to traditional views. A worthy contribution to the field. Paul N. Anderson

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