Roman Imperial Ideology and the Gospel of John. By LANCE BYRON RICHEY.

Abstract

Scholarly debate about the background to John's Gospel, and the origin and nature of the putative community from which that document arose, has long been in progress, and shows little sign of subsiding. Dr Richey's monograph is a valuable contribution to this discussion, and deserves special recognition. The writer notes that, following a generation of studies preoccupied with the Hellenistic and philosophical settings of the Fourth Gospel, recent Johannine scholarship has seen a pleasing renewal of interest in its Jewish and Palestinian roots. However, in Richey's view, proper attention has rarely been paid to the Roman context in which John's congregations were placed, and in particular the perceived identity and power of the emperors themselves: what the author describes as the ‘Augustan Ideology’. This, Richey seeks to demonstrate, presented a serious challenge to the Johannine community, a major response to which is to be discovered in the message of the Gospel itself, namely, that Christ is superior to Caesar in every way.