Paul N. Anderson

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Paul N. Anderson (born May 17, 1956) is an American New Testament scholar conducting research on the historical, cultural, and theological background of the Gospel of John, the historical Jesus, Quakers and Spirituality studies. He is Professor of Biblical and Quaker Studies at George Fox University since 1989 and was a founding member of the John, Jesus, and History Project at the Society of Biblical Literature (2002-2016). He also serves as Extraordinary Professor of Religion at North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa and has served as a visiting professor or researcher at Haverford College, Yale Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary, the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, the Radboud University of Nijmegen, and Chapman University.

Contents

Anderson has published over 200 essays and is NT Editor at the Biblical Interpretation Series (Brill), co-editor of the Johannine Monograph Series (Wipf and Stock), and editor of the Quakers and the Discipline Series (FAHE). [1] He edited Evangelical Friend (1990-1994) and Quaker Religious Thought (2000-2011). He has also written many articles for The Huffington Post [2] and served on a team translating the Johannine writings for the New American Bible. [3]

Education

Anderson received a B.A. in Psychology and Christian Ministries at Malone University and pursued graduate studies at Trinity Lutheran Seminary and Portland State University. He received an MDiv from the Earlham School of Religion and a PhD from Glasgow University. [2]

Research and academic career

Thesis

Anderson's Glasgow thesis on The Christology of the Fourth Gospel (1996, 1997, 2010) found diachronic theories of John's composition insufficient in terms of stylistic, contextual, and theological evidence; and because 85% of its material is distinctive, with none of the contacts with other gospels being identical or verbatim, John's tradition is not derivative from Synoptic traditions. Anderson's monograph thus identified four sources of John's theological tensions: the dialectical thinking of the evangelist, the Jewish agency schema (Deut. 18:15-22), the dialectical Johannine situation (featuring several crises over several decades), and the rhetorical designs of the narrator. John's theological, historical, and literary riddles are unpacked more fully in Anderson's introduction to John (The Riddles of the Fourth Gospel, 2011), where his overall Johannine theory (the Dialogical Autonomy of the Fourth Gospel) is laid out as an improvement over alternative views.

Johannine theory

Anderson's overall Johannine theory builds on the views of Rudolf Bultmann, Rudolf Schnackenburg, Raymond E. Brown, Charles Kingsley Barrett, Barnabas Lindars, Peder Borgen, R. Alan Culpepper, and others, advancing three complementary paradigms. (1) In terms of composition, Anderson follows Lindars and Ashton inferring a basic two-edition theory, seeing John's first edition as the second gospel narrative constructed (ca. 80-85 CE), to which John the Elder (author of the Epistles) added the Prologue (John 1:1-18), 19:34-35, and chs. 6, 15-17, and 21) after the death of the Beloved Disciple (ca. 100 CE). (2) John's relations to the Synoptics sees John's first stages of development as reflecting an augmentation and modest correction of Mark (perhaps heard as it was narrated among the churches), thus featuring five signs of Jesus not included in Mark—filling out the picture chronologically and geographically. Given that Luke departs from Mark over six dozen times in ways that coincide with John, Anderson builds on the view of Lamar Cribbs, who argued that the Johannine tradition was known by Luke. Likewise, the Q tradition shows evidence of some Johannine features (esp. Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22) implying some sort of contact. The Matthean and later Johannine traditions (and perhaps the pre-Markan and early Johannine traditions) reflect some sort of cross-influence (or interfluence) regarding models of church governance (with Matthew) and illustrative details (with Mark). (3) The history of the Johannine situation reflects engagements with (a) Judean religious leaders and (b) followers of John the Baptist (30-70 CE); (c) leaders of local Jewish synagogues and (d) the impending Roman imperial cult (70-85 CE); and (e) traveling docetizing ministers and (f) tensions with emerging institutional Christian leaders such as the primacy-loving Diotrephes (3 John 9-10); (g) engagements with synoptic and other gospel traditions continued from the beginning to the end of the Johannine tradition's development. These dialectical engagements within the emerging Johannine situation are largely sequential but somewhat overlapping, as issues never totally disappear but are displaced by more acute crises.

Anderson has criticized the views of New Testament scholar Hugo Mendez (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) who believes that the "beloved disciple" in the Gospel of John is a fictional character created by the evangelist to claim proximity with Jesus. Anderson has countered this claim, stating that the beloved disciple was an actual historical figure in Jesus's following. [4]

Dehistoricization of John

Given the fact that John's narrative reflects a self-standing Jesus tradition, despite being theologically developed, it deserves consideration as an overlooked resource for Jesus research. Anderson's monograph on The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus (2006) lays out the case for its historical contribution alongside other gospels, and in 2002, Anderson helped found the John, Jesus, and History Project at the Society of Biblical Literature. Since then, the project has received international scholarly engagement, having published essays by over two hundred New Testament scholars. [5] The project has published eight monographs, five of which Anderson has been a co-editor. [6] Anderson's research has included the proposition that John has been dehistoricized in scholarship for its distinctive theological and narrative traits, which must be balanced with John's archaeologically detailed narrative and continuity with the Synoptic Gospels. [7] This calls for a Fourth Quest for Jesus, in Anderson's view, as the first three have programmatically excluded John from the mix, and problematically so.

Anderson has reviewed the six-part mini-series Finding Jesus [8] and has written for the SBL's Bible Odyssey [9] and Bible and Interpretation. [10] [11] Anderson also served on a team working on a new translation for the New American Bible. [3]

Reception

According to James Charlesworth (Princeton Theological Seminary), Anderson's book The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus (T&T Clark) "is more than an exhortation to include John in the study of the historical Jesus; it is a polemic against the myopic use of the Synoptics." [7] Larry Hurtado (University of Edinburgh) has also received Anderson's work on the christology of John's Gospel in light of Johannine redaction criticism, writing that "in a recent study of unity and diversity in the Johannine presentation of Jesus, Paul Anderson has acutely and persuasively shown that such judgments reflect inaccurate readings of GJohn" [12] but also criticizes his suggestion that the Epistles of John reflect the separation of more than one secessionist group from John's community. [13] On Anderson's work reassessing and challenging the traditional view that the Gospel of John features anti-Semitic tendencies, R. Alan Culpepper writes that "In a tour de force Paul Anderson challenges widely held understandings of the gospel and proposes a reassessment of its relationship to its Jewish setting." [14]

Selected publications

Books

Articles and chapters

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gospel of John</span> Book of the New Testament

The Gospel of John is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus and seven "I am" discourses culminating in Thomas' proclamation of the risen Jesus as "my Lord and my God". The gospel's concluding verses set out its purpose, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gospel</span> Books which describe the life and teachings of Jesus

Gospel originally meant the Christian message, but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words and deeds of Jesus, culminating in his trial and death and concluding with various reports of his post-resurrection appearances. Modern scholars are cautious of relying on the gospels uncritically, but nevertheless, they provide a good idea of the public career of Jesus, and critical study can attempt to distinguish the original ideas of Jesus from those of the later authors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John the Apostle</span> Apostle of Jesus and Saint

John the Apostle or Saint John the Beloved was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee and Salome. His brother James was another of the Twelve Apostles. The Church Fathers identify him as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder, and the Beloved Disciple, and testify that he outlived the remaining apostles and was the only one to die of natural causes, although modern scholars are divided on the veracity of these claims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biblical criticism</span> Scholarly study of biblical writings

Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as historical-biblical criticism, it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the scientific concern to avoid dogma and bias by applying a neutral, non-sectarian, reason-based judgment to the study of the Bible, and (2) the belief that the reconstruction of the historical events behind the texts, as well as the history of how the texts themselves developed, would lead to a correct understanding of the Bible. This sets it apart from earlier, pre-critical methods; from the anti-critical methods of those who oppose criticism-based study; from later post-critical orientation, and from the many different types of criticism which biblical criticism transformed into in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Authorship of the Johannine works</span> New Testament works attributed to John the Apostle

The authorship of the Johannine works has been debated by biblical scholars since at least the 2nd century AD. The debate focuses mainly on the identity of the author(s), as well as the date and location of authorship of these writings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Signs Gospel</span> Hypothetical gospel account of the life of Jesus Christ

The Signs Gospel or the semeia source is a hypothetical gospel account of the life of Jesus Christ which some scholars have suggested could have been a primary source document for the Gospel of John. This theory has its basis in source criticism. Since the commentary of Rudolf Bultmann was published in 1941, the hypothesis of a semeia source has gained some acceptance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleansing of the Temple</span> Expulsion of commercial activity from the Temple

The cleansing of the Temple narrative tells of Jesus expelling the merchants and the money changers from the Temple, and is recounted in all four canonical gospels of the New Testament. The scene is a common motif in Christian art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Bauckham</span> British theologian (born 1946)

Richard John Bauckham is an English Anglican scholar in theology, historical theology and New Testament studies, specialising in New Testament Christology and the Gospel of John. He is a senior scholar at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.

Graham H. Twelftree is an Australian-born biblical scholar who currently serves as the Academic Dean of London School of Theology in London, UK. Upon earning his master's degree from Mansfield College, Oxford, Twelftree went on to study under New Testament scholar James D. G. Dunn at the University of Nottingham. After completing his doctoral dissertation Jesus, the Exorcist: A Contribution to the Study of the Historical Jesus, he authored several books and journal articles including Jesus the Miracle Worker: A Historical & Theological Study. Through his writings Twelftree has made a significant contribution to what has been erroneously called the third quest for the historical Jesus. He also serves on the editorial board of The Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus. Before his post at London School of Theology, Twelftree was PhD Program Director and Charles Holman Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Regent University's School of Divinity in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He has also served as pastor of a Vineyard church in Adelaide, Australia.

The historical reliability of the Gospels is the reliability and historic character of the four New Testament gospels as historical documents. While all four canonical gospels contain some sayings and events which may meet one or more of the five criteria for historical reliability used in biblical studies, the assessment and evaluation of these elements is a matter of ongoing debate. Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that a human Jesus existed, but scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the biblical accounts of Jesus, and the only two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. Elements whose historical authenticity is disputed include the two accounts of the Nativity of Jesus, the miraculous events including the resurrection, and certain details about the crucifixion.

Nicholas Perrin is an American academic administrator and religious scholar, currently serving as the 16th president of Trinity International University, a Christian university located in Deerfield, Illinois.

Craig S. Keener is a North American academic, Charismatic Baptist pastor, theologian, Biblical scholar and professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Stanley E. Porter is a Canadian–American academic and New Testament scholar, specializing in the Koine Greek grammar and linguistics of the New Testament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannine community</span> Ancient Christian community that supposedly authored the Johannine literature

The term Johannine community refers to an ancient Christian community which placed great emphasis on the teachings of Jesus and his apostle John.

Pheme Perkins is a Professor of Theology at Boston College, where she has been teaching since 1972. She is a nationally recognized expert on the Greco-Roman cultural setting of early Christianity, as well as the Pauline Epistles and Gnosticism.

John Painter, is an Australian academic, New Testament scholar, and Christian theologian specializing in Johannine literature. He is currently Professor of Theology at Charles Sturt University in Canberra.

Richard A. Horsley was the Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts Boston until his retirement in 2007.

New Testament people named John

The name John is prominent in the New Testament and occurs numerous times. Among Jews of this period, the name was one of the most popular, borne by about five percent of men. Thus, it has long been debated which Johns are to be identified with which.

Andrew T. Lincoln is a British New Testament scholar who serves as Emeritus Professor of New Testament at the University of Gloucestershire.

Reimund Bieringer is a German theologian, biblical scholar, Professor Emeritus of New Testament Exegesis at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium, and a Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Speyer in Germany. The main areas of his research include the Second Letter to the Corinthians, the Gospel of John, and biblical hermeneutics.

References

  1. ↑ Paul Anderson PhD George Fox University Homepage Retrieved 10 February 2019
  2. 1 2 Paul Anderson Huffington Post Homepage. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  3. 1 2 Kelm, Sara. A Translation for a New Generation Professor Paul Anderson works to update the world’s most widely read translation of the Bible. Spring 2016.
  4. ↑ "On Biblical Forgeries and Imagined Communities—A Critical Analysis of Recent Criticism | Bible Interp". bibleinterp.arizona.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  5. ↑ Anderson, Paul. The John, Jesus, and History Project-New Glimpses of Jesus and a Bi-Optic Hypothesis Bible and Interpretation, February 2010.
  6. ↑ John, Jesus, History SBL Retrieved 10 February 2019
  7. 1 2 Richeson, Michael. The Fight for the Fourth Gospel. George Fox Journal, 2010
  8. ↑ Gordon, Seth. Anderson broadening audience with blog 25 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Anderson, Paul. The Johannine Community
  10. ↑ Anderson, Paul. A Fourth Quest for Jesus… So What, and How So? Bible and Interpretation, July 2010.
  11. ↑ Anderson, Paul. “Jesus: His Life from the Perspectives of Mary Magdalene and the Apostle Peter” (Pt.4) Bible and Interpretation, April 2019.
  12. ↑ Hurtado, Larry. Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity Eerdmans, 2005, 393-394.
  13. ↑ Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ, 416-7
  14. ↑ Culpepper, R. Alan "Afterword" in John and Judaism: A Contested Relationship in Context (Paul N. Anderson, Felix Just, S.J., Tom Thatcher, eds.), pp. 349-350. Society of Biblical Literature, 2017.
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