The Gospel of John: A Commentary - 2-Volume Set

by Craig S. Keener

Keener’s commentary explores the Jewish and Greco-Roman settings of John more deeply than previous works, paying special attention to social-historical and rhetorical features of the Gospel. It cites about 4,000 different secondary sources and uses over 20,000 references from ancient literature. "Sixteen hundred pages is a lot of pages for a commentary on the Gospel of John, surpassing Raymond Brown and almost matching Rudolf Schnackenburg’s three volumes. But Craig Keener has given us far more than a commentary. He has invited us into the world of that Gospel and made it a magnificent window into the thought and practice of early Judaism and, to a lesser extent, the whole Greco-Roman world of the first century. At the same time, he has made those first-century worlds a lens through which to view the Gospel of John itself. The reader will find this work a treasure trove of information about the origins of Christianity, shedding light on such questions as what is a Gospel? how reliable are the four Gospels in their portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth? and in particular how reliable is the Gospel of John? Keener presents a compelling case for viewing Jesus himself within the framework of early Judaism, and for both the Jewishness and the essential reliability of the traditions about Jesus preserved in John’s Gospel. Keener’s introduction runs to well over three hundred pages, and his bibliography to almost two hundred.

Genres: New Testament, Christian, Theology, Biblical Studies, Reference, Religion, Christianity

1636 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2003

About the author

Craig S. Keener (PhD, Duke University) is professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He is the author of many books, including Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts, the bestseller The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, The Historical Jesus of the Gospels, Gift and Giver, and commentaries on Matthew, John, Romans, 1–2 Corinthians, and Revelation.

Reviews

[Porter Sprigg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Craig Keener has an incredible breadth of knowledge surrounding the historical context of the Fourth Gospel. This book is expansive. It taught me a lot. His perspective on Johannine themes helped me understand the book in a much deeper way.

[Peter Krol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This commentary was quite expensive, but totally worth it if you're looking for more information on the historical background of John's Gospel. Keener is excessively thorough, but also amazingly readable. He defended the historicity of the text well. Often his conclusion was along the lines of "well, we can't prove that the story is historical; but there's no reason to clearly doubt its historicity either." For me, this was enough.

This wasn't the best commentary for understanding the flow of thought or literary nature of the text. But my study of John benefited tremendously by a greater understanding of the cultural and historical background.

[Jay Vellacott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keener is very thorough, I would say to a fault. He will study any ancient background even remotely comparable to the text at hand, even if its separated by many years and miles from the biblical passage at hand. This results in an overwhelming amount of cultural background that seldom actually informs the reading of the text. One small example: in John 21 he feels it necessary to give multiple examples of ancient fish miracles...which are interesting but don't impact our reading of John 21 at all.

[Anita Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Expensive but totally worth it. I used it when I taught the year long women's Bible study on The Gospel According to John in 2008/09. Keener was very accessible to me, highlighting key Greek/Hebrew words, concepts, theologies and philosophies of the time in the Greco-Roman and Jewish worlds. Meticulous research of socio- historical, anthropological research provided my friends and I with an amazing experience about Jesus and all the classes of society, besides family and friends, with whom he interacted. I also liked that Keener provided controversial findings and alternate conclusions different from his own.

[Vanjr · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extensive commentary on John with a predominantly conservative tone the unique thing about this book is the correlation of the text within the historical setting, particularly the classic Greek and Roman world as well as the Hebrew one. Extensive references at the foot of the page sometimes distracted me from the flow of the text. I would not recommend this as the first commentary one reads w John ( for that I recommend DA Carson's), but this is a great reference and addition to ones theological library.

[James]

costs an arm and a leg, but it was worth it.

[Pete Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keener is a reliable commentator known for his expertise in the cultural underpinnings of a book.