The Use of the Jewish Scriptures in the Johannine Passion Narrative: That the Scripture May Be Perfected(Interpreting Johannine Literature)

How do Israel’s Scriptures inform the account of Jesus’s cruciform death in the Gospel of John? What does it mean for John’s portrayal of Jesus’s death to be “according to the Scriptures”? The Use of the Jewish Scriptures in the Johannine Passion Narrative: That the Scripture May Be Perfected argues that they are the focal element of the Johannine portrayal, and without them, John’s Passion Narrative simply makes no sense. Whether through the evangelist’s appeal to the fulfilment of Scripture (with such fulfilment accompanying the very moment of Jesus’ death) or whether through allusions to the narratives of Creation or Passover, Israel’s Scriptures provide the Passion Narrative’s veritable heartbeat. The book also considers the impact of John’s scriptural usage on the very concept of Scripture itself, contending that Scripture is brought to perfection by Jesus’ actions, and to a new standing or status in this regard. David M. Allen examines how the use of Scripture in the Passion account impacts the Fourth Gospel’s own self-understanding, arguing that its capacity to pronounce on Scripture’s fulfilment attests the Gospel’s own self-avowed, scriptural credentials.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction: Scripture and the Fourth Gospel Chapter 1: Mapping the Territory Chapter 2: Quotation Usage in John’s Passion Narrative Chapter 3: Allusion Usage in John’s Passion Narrative Chapter 4: The Implications of Scriptural Usage in John’s Passion Narrative (1): For Israel’s Scriptures Chapter 5: The Implications of Scriptural Usage in John’s Passion Narrative (2): For the Fourth Gospel Conclusion Bibliography About the Author

About the Author :
David M. Allen is academic dean at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education, Birmingham.

Review :
With such attention to detail, this volume is not written for the casual reader. Any graduate student working in the Gospel of John will want to examine this volume as well as anyone studying the concept of Scripture usage. Strongly recommended for research libraries. This is a much-needed book on the fourth Gospel and the Scriptures of Israel. Through considered and careful analysis of quotation and allusion, Allen clearly demonstrates the essential place of scripture in the Johannine passion narrative. However, this volume goes beyond evaluating the texts themselves to provide a compelling account of the relationship between John’s Gospel and scripture, both in terms of John’s understanding of the Scriptures of Israel and John’s understanding of his own writing. Allen’s discussion is engaging and insightful making this a must-read volume for anyone wanting to understand this Gospel. David Allen offers a rich and compelling account of the profound indebtedness of the Johannine Passion narrative to the Scriptures of Israel. With great clarity and insight, the study explores how the Jewish Scriptures shape and are also understood to be shaped, even “perfected,” by John’s narration of Jesus’ death, and thus how both, symbiotically, play an integral role in the Gospel’s own claim to the status of “Scripture.”