Characteristics of The Gospel of John
Though the three Synoptic Gospels share a considerable amount of text, over 90% of John's Gospel is unique to him. The synoptics describe much more of Jesus' life, miracles, parables, and exorcisms. However, the materials unique to John are notable, especially in their effect on modern Christianity.
As a gospel, John is a story about the life of Jesus. The Gospel can be divided into four parts:
- Prologue
- The Book of signs
- The Book of exaltation (Passion narrative)
- The Epilogue.
The Prologue is a hymn identifying Jesus as the Logos and as God. The Book of Signs recounts Jesus' public ministry, and includes the signs worked by Jesus and some of his teachings. The Passion narrative recounts the Last Supper (focusing on Jesus' farewell discourse), Jesus' arrest and crucifixion, his burial, and resurrection. The Epilogue records a resurrection appearance of Jesus to the disciples in Galilee.
Following on from "the higher criticism" of the 19th century, Adolf von Harnack and Raymond E. Brown have questioned the gospel of John as a reliable source of information about the historical Jesus.
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