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Praise for Meditations on According to John
Dr. Herold Weiss’ meditations on the Gospel of John will surprise no one familiar with his other valuable contributions to our understanding of the message of Scripture and of Christian faith. As he has throughout a half century of scholarship, teaching, preaching and writing, he here brings to focus his richly informed familiarity with the best in contemporary scholarship on the New Testament and his gifted sensitivity to the spiritual intent of the Fourth Gospel. His book will open the eyes of many to new riches in this Gospel.
Earle Hilgert, Professor of New Testament, emeritus
McCormick Theological Seminary
Meditations on According to John draws readers enticingly into the theological world of John’s Gospel. Herold Weiss, a gifted guide, explores this world through the lens of theological and devotional reflection, which Weiss finds rooted in the traditional understanding of “meditations” on the Scriptures. Although engagingly brief, each chapter contains rich insights into key phrases from the gospel which serve as his chapter titles. Weiss shows how a phrase in one part of the gospel illuminates theological concepts that are crucial to the whole work. The interdisciplinary nature of Weiss’ approach enhances the theological insights by placing them in their philosophical and cultural milieu as well as within their literary context. Fascinated by the ways According to John gives readers a window into the faith of particular Christian communities living at the end of the first century, Weiss helps contemporary readers listen more carefully to the nuances and unique contributions of that faith. His meditations, like the gospel stories and discourses themselves, invite re-readings. Familiar stories become new again, calling for further meditation. I look forward to reading this book with my students, challenged to embrace the life of the “realm above” that shaped the faith of the Johannine community.
Kendra Haloviak Valentine
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, La Sierra University
When Weiss walks you through the Gospel of John, the maze turns to amazement. You will discover another world with all the favorable conditions for a better life.
Abraham Terian, Professor of Early Christianity
and Dean, emeritus, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary
Just as Philip invites Nathaniel to consider who Jesus is in the Gospel of John by saying “come and see,” Herold Weiss invites readers to do likewise by engaging important passages from that gospel. Weiss’ “meditations” are exegetical reflections on the fourth gospel that convey his learning, insights, and interests that have been developed over a long career studying the sacred writings of ancient Israel and early Christianity in their historical contexts. In this way, Meditations on According to John offers fruits of historical-critical study on the fourth gospel to non-specialists without unnecessary scholarly jargon, while simultaneously proposing fresh interpretations for today. Weiss’s book is a welcome contribution to all those interested in “meditating” on the fourth gospel and on its presentation of Jesus.
John Fotopoulos, Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN
Weiss is the perfect guide into the world of this notoriously difficult gospel, and the book’s structure—a series of meditations on its theology—turns out to be a rich and rewarding way to enter into it, if not ideal. Weiss walks the reader through the complex symbolic world of the fourth gospel, carefully revealing some of the sometimes surprising threads that run through it and at the same time situating the text within the larger contexts of emerging early Christianity, Judaism, and the larger Greco-Roman world. Weiss has a knack for unpacking and explaining the complex philosophical ideas and cultural backgrounds that prove essential to making sense of this gospel.
Ruben Dupertuis, Associate Professor of Religion
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX
Meditations on According to John
Exercises in Biblical Theology
Herold Weiss
Energion Publications
Gonzalez, FL
2014
Copyright © 2014, Herold Weiss
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Cover Design: Henry E. Neufeld
Cover Image Credits:
Nail Pierced Feet: 16672667 © Federicofoto | Dreamstime.com
Foot Washing: 6873941 © Jozef Sedmak | Dreamstime.com
Electronic Edition
ISBN10: 1-63199-546-4
ISBN13: 978-1-63199-546-0
Print ISBNs:
ISBN10: 1-63199-012-8
ISBN13: 978-1-63199-012-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014909400
Energion Publications
P. O. Box 841
Gonzalez, FL 32560
energion.com
850-525-3916
Dedicated to the memory of
“la Mutter”
Julia Weiss Riffel
(1880 – 1963)
Preface
This book is the realization of a long-held dream. During my first semester as a doctoral student, in 1958, I discovered the depths to which the language of According to John invites its readers. Since then my admiration for this gospel grew as I spent time exploring its many large chambers of meaning below its surface in preparation for teaching. In this endeavor, of course, I was helped by other scholars who had already devoted concerted efforts to understand its message. It may not be an exaggeration to say that no other New Testament book has received as much attention and as a result has been so drastically re-interpreted during the last fifty years or so.
Many times I had the feeling that I should try to write a book that put these advances in our knowledge within reach of a larger audience. The treasures in the gospel should not be confined to the scholarly community. What prevented me from writing the book was my inability to decide on the format into which to put its insights. Then in 2009 I was invited to write a monthly column at www.spectrummagazine.com. The editors of this web page graciously gave me total freedom on choosing the subjects of my columns. It did not take long for me to realize that deciding on the subject of a column was half the task. This led me to write series of columns on a subject, thus limiting the horizon within which to search for the subject of the next column. My second
