Letters to the Johannine Circle

For decades the figure of Raymond E. Brown has dominated Johannine studies because of his influential commentaries on the Gospel of John (1966-1970) and the three Johannine Letters (1982). Nowadays many question his striking and influential hypotheses. What was the relationship between the Gospel and the Letters? When did they appear? In what order did they appear? Can we trace the development of a group of like-minded “Johannine Christians”? Should the Letters be read and interpreted independently of the Gospel? this book takes the nonspecialized interested reader into this debate. The author of a significant commentary on the Gospel of John (1998), he reconsiders many of Brown’s suggestion, modifying them in the light of contemporary studies. Written to appeal to a general audience, he states his own position, supporting his hypothesis with a careful but simply written commentary on the texts of 1, 2, and 3 John. He concludes that the Johannine Letters address an audience already mentioned in John 20:29: “Those who have not seen yet believe.”Francis J. Moloney