1, 2, and 3 John: An Introduction and Study Guide: Multiple Readings, Deconstructing Constructions

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This insightful study engages the debates and interpretations of the brief and somewhat elusive writings known in the Christian canon as 1, 2, and 3 John. Chapter 1 identifies six unknowns about the origins of the three writings: authors, relationship to Johns Gospel, order, date and location of the writings, and their audiences. Chapters 2 and 3 delineate the debate concerning the relationship of these writings to a purported Johannine tradition and Johannine community in which a schism is claimed to have occurred. An alternative view recognizes that while there are some connections with Johns Gospel, it is more compelling to see the writings as independent rather than derivative, as internally not externally directed, as pastoral not polemical, and as schism-free. Chapters 4-7 discuss important aspects of 1 John. Chapter 4 argues that its structure or organization is based on rhetorical and conceptual links among the writings small units. Chapter 5 reads 1 John as a pastoral in-house writing, rather than a polemical attack on opponents. Chapter 6 identifies the genre of I John as not a letter or sermon but an epideictic speech that seeks to strengthen the identity, commitments, and practices of its believing recipients. Chapter 7 outlines theological understandings that underpin the writings pastoral work. Chapters 8 and 9 focus on 2 and 3 John as writings that provide two different approaches to itinerant teachers. The narrative fiction in 2 John presents the elders warning and skepticism about itinerant teachers whereas the author of 3 John, by contrast, advocates reception and welcome for itinerant teachers.

Reviews

Many initial readers are at a loss when they first encounter the Johannine Letters, uncertain as to what sort of letters they are and where they belong in the world of early Christianity, and whether they are anything more than an appendix to the more familiar Gospel. With a sure hand Warren Carter guides them through some of the key debates in answering these questions and allows the letters distinctive outlook to emerge out of the shadows and to invite serious theological engagement. * Judith Lieu, Robinson College, Cambridge University, UK *
Carter focuses on the primary matter for interpretation of 13 John: whether to read these three texts polemically as addressing a schism affecting three churches within a community, or read them pastorally as addressing the spiritual needs of three independent churches. Carter prefers the latter option and reads these texts as epideictic rhetoric constructing and actualizing identity among the recipients. This approach introduces 13 John in a very engaging fashion. * Duane F. Watson, Malone University, USA *
Although I have not changed the views I expressed in my Sacra Pagina Commentary of 2002, I welcome the fresh views of Warren Carters rhetorical approach, which has become more prominent in recent times but was not absent when I wrote. Likewise, he reviews the common authorship of the three writings and their relationship to the Fourth Gospel. * John Painter, Charles Sturt University, Australia *

Author Bio

Warren Carter is Meinders Professor of New Testament, Phillips Theological Seminary Tulsa, USA.