John among the Apocalypses: Jewish Apocalyptic Tradition and the 'Apocalyptic' Gospel

273 Pages·2020·65.604 MB·English

by  Benjamin E. Reynolds

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John among the Apocalypses
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John among the
Apocalypses
Jewish Apocalyptic Tradition and the
“ ”
Apocalyptic Gospel
BENJAMIN E. REYNOLDS
1
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Acknowledgments
There isa small,but growinginterest in understanding the Fourth Gospel in
light of early Judaism. By this statement, I do not mean “early Judaism as
background” to the Gospel nor do I mean “John and Judaism,” but rather
I mean reading the Fourth Gospel as part of early Judaism. This perspective
turnsmuchtwentieth-centuryJohanninescholarshiponitshead,butitisthe
twentieth-centurydiscoveryoftheDeadSeaScrollsthathasbeentheimpetus
behind our enriched understandings of Judaism during the Second Temple
period.ReadingtheGospelofJohnalongsideearlierandcontemporaryJewish
literature opens new (or renewed?) avenues for understanding the Fourth
Gospel,particularlyinrelationshiptoJewishapocalyptictradition.
The present study grew out of the colloquium on the “Gospel of John and
Intimations of Apocalyptic” hosted by Catrin Williams in 2010 at the
University of Wales, Bangor in honor of John Ashton. My paper “John
among the Jewish Apocalypses: Rethinking the Gospel of John’s Genre” was
dying a slow, painful death in the question and answer period until John
Ashtonshiftedtheconversationbyrespondingfavorablywhilealsograciously
challengingme.John’sinteractionsparkedmyinterestinthetopicfurtherand
beganafriendshipwhichcontinueduntilhisdeath.JohnandIcommunicated
backandforthasheworkedonwhatbecamehisfinalbook,TheGospelofJohn
and Christian Origins (Fortress, 2014), and as I continued working on the
GospelofJohn’srelationshipwithJewishapocalypses.Johnagreedtowritea
forewordforthepresentvolume,butItooktoolongtocompletethisproject
and he left us too soon. However, I imagine John’s comments would have
soundedsimilartohisresponsetosomeofmyearlierwork:“itwon’tsurprise
youtohearthatIagreewithmuchofwhatyousay.Butitwon’tsurpriseyou
eithertohearthatIdohavesomedisagreementsalso,andIthinkIoweitto
you to spell these out.” I am grateful to John for his forthright honesty, his
encouragement,hiscontributiontoJohanninescholarship,andhisfriendship.
TherearenumerouspeoplewhomIwouldliketothankfortheiradviceand
encouragementonthepresentvolume.IamgratefultoJohnAshtonandJörg
Freyforofferingfeedbackonmypreliminaryoutlineforthisproject.Iwould
alsoliketothankthosewhoreadachapterormoreofthepresentvolumeand
in many instances challenged me to rethink an argument or saved me from
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some embarrassing oversights. These include colleagues: Ian Boxall, Joseph
Dodson, Natasha Duquette, Simon Gathercole, Jonathan Moo, Stacey Moo,
Ian Scott, and Catrin Williams; and some former and current students:
Morgan Clark, Spencer Healey, Ben Klassen, and Rachel VanderVeen. Of
course, those mistakes that remain are mine alone. I am also grateful to
Rachel VanderVeen for compiling the List of Abbreviations and to Marina
Hannaforrecreatingthetableof“master-paradigm”elements.
I would also like to thank all those who were present at the Bangor
Colloquium in 2010, particularly John Ashton, Ian Boxall, April DeConick,
Jörg Frey, Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer, Judith Lieu, Christopher Rowland, Loren
Stuckenbruck,andCatrinWilliams,fortheintellectuallystimulatingmeeting
thatitwas.Iamgratefultootherswhohaveheardandcommentedonpaper
presentations that have been incorporated into this volume, which I gave in
the intervening years at the Sixth Enoch Seminar (Milan, June 2011); the
JohannineLiteratureSection,SBLAnnualMeeting(Chicago,2012);Wisdom
and Apocalypticism Section and Johannine Literature Section joint session,
SBLAnnualMeeting(SanDiego,2014).
I am grateful to the publishers—Bloomsbury, Brill, Fortress Press, and
MohrSiebeck—forpermittingmetoreusematerialfrompreviouslypublished
essays. In most cases, I have significantly reworked the material, but in a few
instances,thedetailedargumentmaybefoundintheoriginalpiece:
“JohnandtheJewishApocalypses:RethinkingtheGospelofJohn’sGenre.”In
John’sGospelandIntimationsofApocalyptic,editedbyCatrinH.Williamsand
ChristopherRowland,36–57.London:BloomsburyT&TClark,animprintof
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2013. (Incorporated into portions of Chapters 2
and5.)
“Apocalypticism in the Gospel of John’s Written Revelation of Heavenly
Things.” Early Christianity 4, no. 1 (2013): 64–95, published by Mohr
Siebeck,Tübingen.(IncorporatedintoportionsofChapters2,3,and6.)
“The Otherworldly Mediators in 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch: A Comparison with
Angelic Mediators in Ascent Apocalypses and in Daniel, Ezekiel, and
Zechariah.” In Fourth Ezra and Second Baruch: Reconstruction after the Fall,
editedbyMatthiasHenzeandGabrieleBoccaccini,175–93.Leiden:Brill,2013.
(IncorporatedintoportionsofChapters2and5.)
“Apocalyptic Revelation in the Gospel of John: Revealed Cosmology, the
Vision of God, andVisionaryShowing.” InJewish Apocalyptic Tradition and
the Shaping ofNew Testament Thought, editedby Benjamin E. Reynolds and
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Loren T. Stuckenbruck, 109–28. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2017.
(IncorporatedintoportionsofChapters2and3.)
I am also grateful for the permissions granted to include images of icons
depicting St. John the Theologian dictating to his scribe Prochorus that are
includedonthecoverofthisvolumeandinChapter7.
I am grateful to Tyndale University for two half-year sabbaticals (winter
2015andautumn2018)duringwhichamajorityofthisbookwasresearched
and written. Without the freedom from administrative and teaching loads
during those two semesters, I would not have been able to complete this
project. Thanks to the staff of Tyndale University’s William Horsey Library
for their research and teaching support, especially to Hugh Rendle, Isabella
Guthrie-McNaughton,andMonicaDuce.
Thanks to the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine, particularly to Jeanette
Strong, Sister Dorothy, and Sister Susanne at the Guest House and Sister
Margaret Ruth in the library, for the peaceful study space for research and
writing and their kind hospitality. The Sisterhood will always hold a special
placeforme,butitdoessoespeciallywiththisprojectbecause,asmythoughts
werecoalescingaroundtheGospelofJohn,Jewishapocalypses,andthebook
of Revelation, I noticed for the first time an icon (a quite large wall painting,
mind you) that I had passed numerous times before. The Sisterhood’s icon
sparked a reception history exploration of the literary and iconographic
traditionof St.John,Prochorus, andtheCave ofRevelation, and thisexplor-
ationledtothecentralpartofChapter7ofthisvolume.
I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful
feedback, as well as Tom Perridge, Karen Raith, John Smallman, Henry
Clarke, and the rest of the OUP team for their patience and excellent work
onthisvolume.
Last,butnotleast,IwouldliketothankLizzieandourthreeboysfortheir
encouragementandpatience,especiallyinthefinalstagesoftheproject(“Dad,
didyoufinishyourbooktoday?”).IdedicatethisbooktomyparentsMelissa
andRogerReynoldsoutofgratitudefortheirunwaveringloveandsupport.