Corpus Johanneum

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The Corpus Joanneum comprises the writings of the New Testament , which were written by the Evangelist John according to the ancient church tradition. A context of the scriptures is assumed especially for the Gospel of John and the letters of John . The texts share a common theology and language and differ in important points from other New Testament texts, so that a Johannine school or a Johannine circle is spoken of as the author of the final version of the texts found today. By Jens Wilhelm Taeger also the minority opinion is expressed, the Book of Revelation belong to this complex.

Reasons for accepting a Johannine school

Bible

Authorship

Neither in the letters nor in the Gospel does an author named John reveal himself. Instead, the Gospel of John speaks of the "favorite disciple" who testifies to the correctness of the Gospel, while in the second and third letters of John a presbyter is named as the sender. Instead, the first letter of John mentions an unnamed author who wants to have the letter written on behalf of a quorum.

theology

The central peculiarities and peculiarities of all Johannine writings are the central argument for the assumption of a Johannine school. These include: the unity of father and son, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, dualism between God and the world, the “knowing” of God ( Joh 1,13  EU ), ( Joh 3,3  EU ), ( 1 Joh 2,29  EU ), ( 1 Joh 3,9  EU ), ( 1 Joh 4,7  EU ), the "abiding" in God in Jesus, in truth and in teaching ( 2 Joh 2,9  EU ), ( 1 Joh 2,6.24. 27  EU ), ( 1 Joh 4 : 12–15  EU ), ( Joh 8,31  EU ), ( Joh 14,10.17  EU ), ( Joh 15,4-10  EU ), the commandment of love, “From the truth being "and" knowing the truth "( 2 Joh 1  EU ), ( 3 Joh 3,8  EU ), ( 1 Joh 2,21  EU ), ( 1 Joh 2,21  EU ), ( 1 Joh 3,19  EU ) , ( Joh 8,32  EU ), ( Joh 18,37  EU ).

Old church

The favorite disciple named in the gospel has been identified with the apostle John since the 2nd century : “Thereupon (according to Matthew, Mark, Luke) John, the Lord's disciple, who had also been on his breast, published the gospel himself when he was stayed in Ephesus in Asia. ”In addition, Irenaeus identifies him with the son of Zebedee, John, as well as with the old man, who claims to be the author of the letters known today as the second and third letters of John, and finally with the author of the Apocalypse. As additional information that cannot be derived from the Bible, he states that this John lived in Ephesus.

Martin Hengel also sees the lack of alternative titles for letters and the Gospel as a clear argument for the fact that their title and assignment to Ephesian John was already fixed during publication and was therefore only distributed under this title in the early church.

Position of the apocalypse of John

In addition to the letters and the Gospel, the New Testament canon also contains the Apocalypse of John, the author of which bears the same name, which is why the relationship between this and the other texts has been and is being discussed. Basically, it should be mentioned that John, a common name in ancient Greece, does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about a possible connection, which is why such a connection must be inherent in the text. Various considerations were made for this:

Taeger sees, following Rudolf Bultmann's theories on the Corpus Johanneum, a Deutero-Johannine editing of the Gospel and this very group of editors as authors of the letters. A characteristic of this grouping is therefore a futuristic eschatology in the verses ( Jn 5:24  EU ); ( Joh 6,39.40.44.54  EU ); ( Joh 12,48  EU ) as well as in the entire first letter of John.

However, Bultmann's theory has become doubtful, which means that the basis of Taeger's thesis is no longer applicable and the close connection between the Apocalypse and the Corpus Johanneum is questionable.

State of research

The head of the Johannine school

Martin Hengel sees in the numerous allusions both in the letters and in the early church writings to an "old man" who will still experience the return of Jesus and was one of his disciples, an indication that between the years 70 and 100/110 in Asia Minor was a man who claimed for himself to have been a disciple of Jesus and who as a result both exercised great influence in the area and wrote the gospel. After his death, following this theory, there were probably no other heads, as was the case with the other early Christian schools (such as that of Paul).

Order and dating of the writings

Most New Testament researchers assume that the quality of the scriptures of the Johannine school declined and accordingly place the Gospel of John at the beginning. This is followed by the first letter of John and, as insignificant products of the later phase, the second and third letters of John. Based on this order, the gospel is dated in the year 100 and the letters in the following ten to twenty years. This is justified by the fact that the editing of the letters presupposes the existence of the Gospel and refers to it in various places. Although there are no passages in which reference is made directly to the Gospel, it should always be in the background.

Udo Schnelle, on the other hand, favors an increase in quality and accordingly assumes the order of 2nd John, 3rd John, 1st John and finally the Gospel. For this order he argues against the above-mentioned view that the two small letters cannot be seen as a rereading of the longer scriptures, the discussion of the docets can be found in all scriptures, but that a discussion of them is already provided in the Gospel of John becomes, which assumes that the letters were written beforehand. In addition, he does not consider it justified that the theological level, especially Christology , should be lower in the later writings than in the earlier ones.

Location of the school

Ephesus is usually considered the place of composition: First of all, the early church tradition, according to which the apostle John is said to have written the fourth Gospel there, speaks for this assignment. In addition, the history of the impact ("Aloger, Montanists, Acts of John, Reception in Gnosis") refers to Asia Minor.

However, if one takes into account the contact with Mandaean writings and the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, the polemics against the followers of John the Baptist and against “the Jews”, Syria is also likely to be the place of writing. In order to reconcile the two, it is sometimes considered whether the original Gospel was written in one place and the subsequent editing took place in another. That would mean at least a spatial separation of the evangelist and the school based on his theology.

theology

In addition to the common statement of being written by one John, the letters and the Gospels, in contrast to Revelation, are united by a common theology that is most clearly worked out in the Gospel. It can also be found in the letters, albeit in a form that has already been lost or has not yet been developed, depending on the date. The unity of Father and Son is emphasized more strongly than in the rest of the New Testament writings, the dualism between God and the world is revealed, which is also shown in the emphasis on the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and the strong emphasis on "truth" as the content of the sermon and message .

The Gospel author probably had the Synoptic Gospels, but did not use them in the same way that Matthew and Luke used Mark. With his Gospel he tried a new approach, but not with the claim to displace the existing early Christian texts, but to supplement them.

Accordingly, the intended use of the first and second letters as well as the Gospel is not for private reading, but for reading in worship.

literature

  • Martin Hengel : The Johannine question. An attempt at a solution. With a contribution to the Apocalypse by Jörg Frey. Mohr / Siebeck, Tübingen 1993, ISBN 3-161-45836-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Francois Vouga: Letters of  John . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 4, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2001, Sp. 549-552, here Sp. 549.
  2. ↑ Udo Schnelle : Introduction to the New Testament. 7th edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-03246-6 , p. 471 f.
  3. ^ Irenaeus of Lyons , Adversus haereses III, 11; Eusebius of Caesarea , Church History V, 8.4; quoted from Philipp Vielhauer : History of early Christian literature. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1975, ISBN 3-11-007763-9 , p. 456.
  4. ^ Irenaeus of Lyons , Adversus haereses III, 16.5–8.
  5. ↑ Adv Haer 3,1f; see. 22.5.
  6. ↑ Quoted in each case from Thomas Söding: The origins of the Gospel of John ( PDF ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove it Note. ). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
  7. ↑ Martin Hengel : The Johannine question. An attempt at a solution. With a contribution to the Apocalypse by Jörg Frey. Mohr / Siebeck, Tübingen 1993, ISBN 3-161-45836-2 , p. 205.
  8. ↑ Udo Schnelle : Introduction to the New Testament. 7th edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-03246-6 , p. 471.
  9. ↑ Martin Hengel : The Johannine question. An attempt at a solution. With a contribution to the Apocalypse by Jörg Frey. Mohr / Siebeck, Tübingen 1993, ISBN 3-161-45836-2 , p. 219.
  10. ↑ Martin Hengel : The Johannine question. An attempt at a solution. With a contribution to the Apocalypse by Jörg Frey. Mohr / Siebeck, Tübingen 1993, ISBN 3-161-45836-2 , p. 220.
  11. ^ Francois Vouga: Letters of  John . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 4, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2001, Sp. 549-552, here Sp. 549.
  12. ↑ Udo Schnelle : Introduction to the New Testament. 7th edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-03246-6 , p. 476.
  13. ↑ Udo Schnelle : Introduction to the New Testament. 7th edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-03246-6 , p. 475.
  14. ↑ Philipp Vielhauer : History of early Christian literature. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1975, ISBN 3-110-07763-9 , p. 460.
  15. ↑ Udo Schnelle : Introduction to the New Testament. 7th edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-03246-6 , pp. 471–472.
  16. ↑ Martin Hengel : The Johannine question. An attempt at a solution. With a contribution to the Apocalypse by Jörg Frey. Mohr / Siebeck, Tübingen 1993, ISBN 3-161-45836-2 , p. 204.