The Gospel of John has been the subject of intense scrutiny for centuries. It has profoundly shaped Christian doctrine and inspired artists, musicians, theoligans and ordinary Christians. Despite the Gospel’s ability to communicate the good news to the simple believer while plumbing the depths of Christian faith for the sophisticated, it has been sharply criticised as ‘world-denying’, ‘androcentric’ and ‘anti-Jewish’.

What should we make of a Gospel that provokes such diverse reactions? Does John still have meaning for the Church and contemporary society? Does it need to be reinterpreted for today’s world? Is it anti-Semitic?

In this masterly study, Ruth Edwards seeks to help those interested in this provocative Gospel decide for themselves the answers to these and other questions.

Ruth Edwards has written a lucid and concise introduction to the Gospel of John. Her book manages to condense a generation of scholarship into a highly readable account which will be a great boon to all students of this profound if enigmatic book.Christopher Rowland, Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture,
University of Oxford

Here is a comprehensive introduction to the study of John’s Gospel by a scholar who writes out of wide knowledge but with clarity and simplicity. She refuses to be tied to any one school of interpretation but insists on being led by the evidence, recognizing its limitations, and not forcing it into any particular mould. The result is a thoughtful, cautious and fresh treatment of John that will open up its riches for contemporary students.The Revd Dr Howard Marshall, University of Aberdeen