3335 "New and substantive contribution to Johannine scholarship"
austraLasia #3335
"New
and
substantive contribution to Johannine scholarship" Love in
the Gospel of John,
Francis J. Moloney sdb
MELBOURNE:
20
December 2013
-- It was a warm one - 40 degrees in
Melbourne,
reaching its peak around 5 p.m. just as Love in the Gospel of John
was being
launched. This new work by Professor Frank Moloney is drawing
critical
praise from many quarters as a "new and substantive
contribution to
Johannine Scholarship." Suffice it to list some of the
comments below:
"The evangelist's story has
all the
twists and turns of any real love story. Moloney sheds light
on these
several twists and turns as only he, among contemporary
English-language scholars, can do." Raymond F. Collins,
visiting scholar, Department of Religious Studies, Brown
University
"This is not just another
study on
love in John. Its speciality is to focus more on the actions
God takes
through his Son than on words/commandaments of Jesus about
brotherly
love; and he [Moloney] does it in a masterly way focusing
his
predominantly narrative analysis on what happens in the
story and how
it is put into words. This book hits the bullseye; if given
serious
study it will open up a much more succinct understanding of
the Fourth
Gospel."
Comment posted on the Associazione
Biblica
Salesiana (ABS) Website.
And what led Frank to reconceiving his already extensive,
world-acknowledged understanding of John's Gospel in this new
and
exciting way? "Years of
association
with the Johannine story led me to look beyond what Jesus
teaches and
commands about love in the Fourth Gospel. All those words
(and there
are a lot of them) have their place within a narrative. The
problem
with so much analysis of the Gospel of John (and biblical
texts in
general) is that we often forget the whole story as we focus
on
particular words and commands. I was as guilty of that as
anyone, as I
had been trained that way. But love is best communicated by
loving
actions, not loving words. We all know that! I have thus
tried to
interpret what the Fourth Gospel teaches about love by
situating the
words within their narrative context. Both words and actions
must go
together. In the end, actions really count when it comes to
making love
known."
Contents of the book:
1. Entering the World of John's Gospel
2. The Mission of Jesus: To Make God Known
3. The Hour Has Not Yet Come
4. Love in Action, Discourse, and Prayer: John 13:1-38;
15:12-17;
17:1-26
5. "It Is Finished": John 18:1-19:42
6. "Love One Another as I Have Loved You": John 20:1-31;
21:1-25
7. "Those Who Have Not Seen and Yet Believe": John 20:29
Plus bibliography, index. Selling for AUD 34.99
