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Preface

This book is the realization of a long-held dream. During my first semester as a doctoral student, in 1958, I discovered the depths to which the language of According to John invites its readers. Since then my admiration for this gospel grew as I spent time exploring its many large chambers of meaning below its surface in preparation for teaching. In this endeavor, of course, I was helped by other scholars who had already devoted concerted efforts to understand its message. It may not be an exaggeration to say that no other New Testament book has received as much attention and as a result has been so drastically re-interpreted during the last fifty years or so.

Many times I had the feeling that I should try to write a book that put these advances in our knowledge within reach of a larger audience. The treasures in the gospel should not be confined to the scholarly community. What prevented me from writing the book was my inability to decide on the format into which to put its insights. Then in 2009 I was invited to write a monthly column at www.spectrummagazine.com. The editors of this web page graciously gave me total freedom on choosing the subjects of my columns. It did not take long for me to realize that deciding on the subject of a column was half the task. This led me to write series of columns on a subject, thus limiting the horizon within which to search for the subject of the next column. My second series dealt with the gospel According to John. Thus, without long-term planning and under the pressure of a monthly deadline, I began writing columns on aspects of this gospel. In the process I discovered that they were the format I had been searching for. The original columns, re-written, expanded, re-organized and polished without the pressure of deadlines, now appear as meditations for the benefit of a different audience. My hope is that their readers will experience as great a sense of fulfillment as I have had in writing them.

I have named these exercises in biblical theology “meditations” to underline their purpose. These days a meditation is understood to be a help for devotions. Meditations, however, have a long tradition as philosophical reflections. It goes back to the first translators of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations.” Marcus titled his philosophical musings “To Himself,” Eis heauton in Greek. His meditations are not just a loose collection of observations or insights that one wishes to save for future reference. They are a philosophy of life with a central guiding principle considered worthy of the attention of others. My meditations on According to John are intended to be both theological musings and devotional helps. They were written as explorations of a way of life and its symbolic universe to open a window for the benefit of others.

I have always considered writing to be an activity that while carried out in private is done in dialogue with others. This is true both in the actual writing of the first drafts, when one’s interlocutors are in one’s imagination, and in the actual back and forth with those with whom one shares drafts in order to receive comments, criticisms or suggestions. The final draft of this book owes much to three friends who gave me most valuable feedback. Terence Martin, a long time colleague and friend from my years teaching at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, read the full text and gave me much support and advice at leisurely, lively lunches. Jean and Don Rhoads, long-standing friends since the time when Don and I were beginning our academic careers, read these pages with much care and offered most acute comments about their content. To these friends I owe a great debt of gratitude. As always, Henry Neufeld, my editor and publisher, distinguished himself by his enthusiasm for the project and his professional competence. As the one actually making the book available to the reading public, he has my most sincere admiration. The book is dedicated to “la Mutter,” my grandmother, a woman with an indomitable spirit, a generous heart and an intuitive desire to serve. She helped women give birth to countless babies in a forgotten countryside in Argentina. Her life was a testimony to the value of both the fleshly and the spiritual birth.