Since this is looking to be the Year of John with some important books coming out this summer I thought I would jump the gun a bit by posting this video that focuses on a literary interpretation of the gospel of John. Needless to say I am as fascinated by historical criticism of the Bible as anybody but sometimes it seems like an attempt to pull at the threads of a garment without appreciating the reality of the entire garment, or worse, an attempt to see the back of the head of the Mona Lisa.

The gospels are literature. Jesus, before everything else, is a character in a book.

This video is a part of a series of lectures by Dr Adam Walker on the subject of visionary literature. The section here on gender is especially fascinating. I am continually amazed at how the literature of the Bible opened up to me and I developed an appreciation of how rich and strange it all is only after I ceased being a believer!