1.  Background
-date: terminus ante quem of 110 CE Rylands papyrus
 -close relín to the Johannine epistles (1, 2 and 3 John)

2.  Sources?

3. Johannine Structure
 
a) relation to the Synoptics
  -an independent narrative?
  -did John know the synoptic traditions? note, for instance, the healing of the paralytic (5:2-9; cf. Mark 2:1-12)
 
b) internal ordering
  -internal confusion of text? Some theories:
   i) Bultmannís Displacement Theory
   ii) author is trying to incorporate different sources, particularly oral ones
   iii) successive editings of text  (e.g. new ending at ch 21); adulterous woman pericope at 7:53-8:11)

4. Johannine Themes
 a) Dualism
  i) eschatological
  ii) cosmological
  iii) ontological
  iv) ethical
 
b) Determinism vs. Free Choice
  -12:37 (from Isaiah 6:9-10) God makes it impossible for some to believe
  -18:37; 8:47 only person who really hears Jesusís voice is "born of truth"
  -6:44, 6:55, 10:24-27 - certain individuals are recognized by God as His
  -Free Choice passages: 3:33-36; 5:24; 6:35; 8:12; 12:46-48
 
c) Demonization of "the Jews"
  e.g. 5:16 "the Jews" persecute; 10:31; 18:12; 19:12
  -attempts to explain the anti-Semitism of the gospel
   i) R. Brown: term short form for ěthe Jewish authoritiesî
   ii) a symbol for all those who reject Jesus ("people of Judas")
   iii) response to excommunication from the synagogue
   iv) directed to people of Judaea, not the nation of Israel
 
d) misunderstanding:
   i) jesus makes an ambiguous remark;
   ii) dialogue partner misinterprets it;
    iii) the problem is clarified by Jesus, but people still don't understand
  -2:19-21: ěthis temple will be raised upî
  -3:3-5: "born again"
  -7:33-36: "where I go you cannot follow" (Diaspora, or maybe suicide?)
 
e) believing:
 -what does it mean to "believe in(to)" Jesus?
  -Belief --> Signs--> Seeing (52X) -->Knowing

4.  Portraits of Jesus
 -"I am not from above" - parabolic Christology or high christology
  -no one can ascend but he who ascended (14:6-7); "he tabernacled among them"; 3:13 "man from heaven"
 -Jesus as the logos
 -intimate relín to the Father threough love and obedience: 14:10, 31; 15:9, 15; 17:4,  12, 13
 -use of symbols: bread, vine, light, "living water"
 -personifies all the Jewish feasts
 "I am" statements (6:35, 48; 8:12; 9:5; 10:7;10:11; 15:1; 11:25)
  - "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me" (14:6) and "I and the Father are One" (14:8-11; 16:15; 17:21)
  -"Before Abraham was, I am" (Exodus 3:14)
 -is he more human then in other gospels?