Variation in Style in the Johannine Literature

Abstract

The syntactic pattern which characterizes a fragmentary sample of text is proposed as a stylistic identifier which may be a mark of its origins. This can be used as a means of monitoring instances where the style of a text has become embedded in the style of another which has assimilated it. Rare pattern types shared between thematically similar samples drawn from the Johannine literature and other parts of the NT are offered as evidence that the samples have shared textual origin. It is also shown that, while parts of the Fourth Gospel embody pattern types found extensively in other parts of the NT (e.g. ch. 18, 19.24b-27 and ch. 20), other parts embody pattern types found only in that Gospel (e.g. ch. 17). These have apparently been protected from the influence of the Greek current in other parts of Scripture, despite an acknowledged late date of origin for the Gospel as a whole.