Although study of John's Gospel has undergone a number of shifts in perspective in recent decades, not least through the dominance of the hypothesis of a ‘Johannine community’, serious theological engagement with it has had to return repeatedly to the insights of Rudolf Bultmann and in particular to his identification of the centrality of the mythic descent of the revealer for Johannine christology and soteriology. While Bultmann's theories of the religio-historical origins of the descent myth have been largely assigned to the ‘pre-Nag Hammadi’ history of gnostic study, his grasp of its theological centrality both for the Gospel and for reflection on the latter's continuing power has continued to excite readers and to provide an essential point of reference for further discussion.
William Loader first addressed the Christology of the Fourth Gospel in a monograph published nearly thirty years ago (Frankfurt, 19922 [1989]) – whose occasional description as a ‘first edition’ of the present work undervalues the latter. Here he returns to the theme, combining the classical historical critical approaches with a recognition of the insights offered by theories of the community and of the redaction of the Gospel, but also by more recent readings that focus on the literary and narrative art of the Gospel as itself part of the latter's engagement of the reader in an encounter with Jesus.
An introduction presents the importance of Bultmann's Jesus as the revealer sent by the Father, but signals its weakness in its lack of attention to the content and effect of his revelation; it summarises more immediate responses to Bultmann and the questions raised by the new critical approaches to the Gospel. The first part of the book identifies the basic structure of the Gospel's christology by tracing repeated motifs or clusters and key passages, and in so doing confirms the core model of the Son sent by the Father as revealer to make the Father known and to act with his authority, but only as authorised by him. This then provides the parameters for a review of the narrative and christological structure of the whole Gospel, divided conventionally into chapters 1–5, 6–12, 13–14, 15–16, 17 and 18–21; this exercise leads to the expansion of the initial core structure into a quasi-credal narrative statement which extends to the sending of the spirit, the mission of the disciples and the formation of a community of believers.
The more substantial second part of the book addresses within this framework some of the central and much disputed questions in Johannine christology: first the different models of Jesus’ death and whether its centre of gravity, particularly when presented as exaltation or glorification, lies in the crucifixion of Jesus, in his resurrection and return, or in a single movement encompassing all of these. Here, again, Loader extends the narrative to explore the significance of the coming of the spirit and how it, and the mission of the disciples, is brought within the completeness of the revelation brought by Jesus. The next chapter, ‘The Salvation Event in John’, addresses the key problematics of the nature and effect of revelation, of the balance between its content and mere fact, and of the calling for response and how this intersects with the dualism and potential determinism of the Gospel. In turn, revelation necessarily raises the question of the identity and capacity of the revealer, and provides the framework for exploring questions of pre-existence, of potential models for John's christology in Jewish thought, of the relationship of Son to Father and so of the humanity of Jesus, concluding judiciously, ‘the Fourth Gospel leaves unresolved the relationship of the unique Son and the humanity of Jesus. It simply asserts both’ (p. 392).
This then introduces the third major chapter in this part, where Loader explores the possible intentions and understanding of the (implied) author in producing such a (Johannine) Jesus who could (and did) provoke sharply opposed interpretations, docetic and anti-docetic. In response Loader analyses different approaches to ‘John and history’, as well as appeals to the nature of (Johannine) ‘remembering’ and of the guidance of the spirit; here, too, analysis of literary effect is combined with reconstruction of the underlying theological traditions on which the author drew, and which to some extent constrained him, and with the now conventional model of the stages and disputes in the history of the community. It may not be surprising that he concludes by describing the christological result as ‘hardly a thorough synthesis, but it illustrates a compromise’ (p. 460), for at this point some readers will feel the same about the explanatory method deployed.
A brief final section of this chapter offers some reflections on the relevance of John's undertaking for present-day faith; this includes a comment on ‘antisemitism’ which is surprisingly brief and neutral, a sense reinforced when the conclusion to the volume as a whole summarises the argument and affirms John's potential ‘as a major source for ecumenical exchange among diverse peoples and cultures’ (p. 484). The hesitancy here to grasp a painful nettle, if disappointing, may seem out of character in a volume which displays a consistent depth of scholarship and careful attention to the text, and to the unresolved dilemmas which it generates. In all, this remains within the tradition of classic historical-critical approaches to Johannine christology, with, for example, little awareness of insights from gender and masculinity studies, or from more recent analysis of symbolism and metaphor. Yet as such it offers an important contribution to study of the Fourth Gospel, and will demand attention in future scholarship.
