Come and Read

Reviews / Votes

Four approaches, three chapters in the Gospel of John. Students become acquainted with John, see how the Prologue, John 10, and John 20 can be interpreted applying narrative, intertextual, sociocultural, and rhetorical criticism, and discover the range of perspectives embraced by each of these approaches. Come and Read is an apt title for this inviting, fresh, conversation-fostering collection of essays. -- R. Alan Culpepper, Mercer University New Testament scholarship has long been a methodologically obsessed discipline, though it has often been true that practitioners of various approaches have not engaged in constructive dialogue with one another. This creative and substantive volume aims to redress that division by putting multiple reading strategies side-by-side in order to demonstrate their potential to illumine the text of the Fourth Gospel. Each member of this stellar cast of contributors is attuned to different nuances of the text in a way that beckons you to "come and read." I love this book! -- Christopher W. Skinner, Loyola University Chicago What meaning we get from the Bible depends on what questions we ask. In this well-conceived and well-executed book, readers will learn this vital but underappreciated truth through clear and consistent presentation of different ways to read the Gospel of John. The book shows that the most generative interpretations are not exclusive but rather allow multiple questions to be asked: a multi-faceted approach yields the more interpretative fruit. This book will be of enormous use in classrooms and for anyone trying to understand the richness of the Bible. -- Jacqueline E. Lapsley, Princeton Theological Seminary