Whoa! Forgeries? That seems a bit extreme! Right? Forgeries???

Hugo Mendez continues his discussion, and I have to say, it’s pretty convincing. He and I may disagree on a couple of things about the Gospel of John — I haven’t decided yet 🙂 — but on the epistles I’m gettin’ there and am open to persuasion on the entire case.

What do you think? The hardest part for most of us is preventing the knee that is jerking from controlling our brain that is judging. So read what he has to say, ponder it, and see what you think — no matter how out of control the knee is. And if you see flaws in what he’s saying, free to tell him (and me, and everyone else!) why.

Here’s his fourth post.

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The Johannine Texts as Literary Forgeries

The primary reason why scholars believe a “Johannine community” once existed is that we possess not only a Johannine Gospel (John) but also three Johannine Epistles/Letters (1, 2, and 3 John). Those letters seem to actually describe the inner workings of what Raymond Brown called “the community of the beloved disciple,” including its conflicts and leadership struggles.

But in my latest article, “Did the Johannine Community Exist?” (Journal for the Study of the New Testament 42 [2020]) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0142064X19890490 I argue that we need to be skeptical of this evidence. The reason is that I believe 1, 2, and 3 John are a chain of literary forgeries—a world of invented characters and situations.

In this post, I’ll briefly summarize why I think this is the case. If you’re interested in this issue, I’d strongly recommend you read my article for the complete arguments.

 

Literary Contact and Copying

The first thing to understand is that ….

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Literary Contact and Copying