Gospel of John Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Gnosticism=== {{Further|Christian Gnosticism}} In the first half of the 20th century, many scholars, primarily including [[Rudolph Bultmann]], forcefully argued that the Gospel of John has elements in common with [[Gnosticism]].{{sfn|Harris|2006|p=}} Christian Gnosticism did not fully develop until the mid-2nd century, and so 2nd-century [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|Proto-Orthodox Christians]] concentrated much effort in examining and refuting it.{{sfn|Olson|1999|p=36}} To say the Gospel of John contained elements of Gnosticism is to assume that Gnosticism had developed to a level that required the author to respond to it.{{sfn|Kysar|2005|pp=88ff}} Bultmann, for example, argued that the opening theme of the Gospel of John, the pre-existing Logos, along with John's duality of light versus darkness in the gospel were originally Gnostic themes that John adopted. Other scholars (e.g., [[Raymond E. Brown]]) have argued that the pre-existing Logos theme arises from the more ancient Jewish writings in the eighth chapter of the [[Book of Proverbs]], and was fully developed as a theme in Hellenistic Judaism by [[Philo Judaeus]].{{sfn|Brown|1997}} The discovery of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] at [[Qumran]] verified the Jewish nature of these concepts.{{sfn|Charlesworth|2010|p=42}} [[April DeConick]] has suggested reading John 8:56 in support of a Gnostic theology;{{sfn|DeConick|2016|pp=13-}} however, recent scholarship has cast doubt on her reading.{{sfn|Llewelyn|Robinson|Wassell|2018|pp=14β23}} Gnostics read John but interpreted it differently from the way non-Gnostics did.{{sfn|Most|2005|pp=121ff}} Gnosticism taught that salvation came from ''[[gnosis]]'', secret knowledge, and Gnostics did not see Jesus as a savior but a revealer of knowledge.{{sfn|Skarsaune|2008|pp=247ff}} The gospel teaches that salvation can only be achieved through revealed wisdom, specifically belief in (literally belief {{em|into}}) Jesus.{{sfn|Lindars|1990|p=62}} John's picture of a supernatural savior who promised to return to take those who believed in him to a heavenly dwelling could be fitted into Gnostic views.{{sfn|Brown|1997|p=375}} It has been suggested that similarities between the Gospel of John and Gnosticism may spring from common roots in Jewish [[Apocalyptic literature]].{{sfn|Kovacs|1995}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page