Recent Theological Approaches to the Johannine Epistles

Abstract

Abstract1 John has been rather roughly handled in recent exegesis, notably in Raymond Brown's Anchor Bible commentary, which sees the epistle as badly written, logically incoherent, full of nasty polemics and bereft of any claim to be considered a mystical text. The two books here reviewed mix exegesis and theology in a kind of pincer movement, which succeeds only partly in closing in on the treasures of Johannine contemplation. Despite their limits, the two books reveal a major desideratum of Johannine studies, namely, the need of a theological reading which will both do justice to the power of Johannine thought and connect it with the questions that occupy, or should occupy, theologians today.