The Authorship of John

The Purpose and Authorship of John

In this course, Dr James Carleton Paget (University of Cambridge) explores the purpose and authorship of the fourth Gospel. In the first module, we introduce the questions surrounding the authorship of John, and reasons behind varying historical attributions of authorship. In the second module, we go on to examine the purpose of John, through close textual analysis and reflections about the context in which John might have been writing. In the third module, we come to look at possible audiences of John’s Gospel, before turning to John’s emphasis on Jesus as the fulfilment of scripture in the fourth module. In the fifth and final module, we return to the purpose of John, with some closing remarks about the significance of delineating an understanding of John’s purpose for proper readership.

The Authorship of John

In this module, we examine the authorship of John, focusing in particular on (i) the limitations of assessing the purpose and authorship of John (ii) various attributions of authorship to John’s Gospel (iii) the identity of the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’ (iii) the relationship between the authorship of John and the figure of the disciple whom Jesus loved (iv) the importance of witness in John.