The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

316 THE DIFFERING APPROACH TO A THEOLOGICAL HERITAGE
John shows a combination of precise historical detail and creative reworking
of given traditions, which is unique in the context of early-Christian
narrative literature. The author of the Fourth Gospel does not aim at a
precise biography of Jesus and certainly not an objective one. In accordance
with the pneumatology of the Fourth Gospel, his narrative is an
anamnesis guided by the Spirit. The evangelist tells the life of Jesus to
enable his addressees to obtain a deeper understanding of his words and
deeds. In this sense he also dares to reshape the traditions available to
him along the lines of his convictions. We can see this in many details,
such as the passages about the cleansing of the temple, the temple saying
of Jesus, the presentation of contemporary Judaism, the chronology of
the way and the passion of Jesus, and so on. This reshaping is particularly
apparent in the Johannine transformation of the Gethsemane tradition
or the words at the cross. The Johannine Jesus does not ask his
Father to spare him the passion (cf. Mark 14:36 et par.). Instead, he who
had been with the Father as preexistent and who is of one being with the
Father emphasizes publicly that he has come into the world precisely
because of this hour ( John 12:27–28). Accordingly, the Johannine Jesus
does not lament on the cross, asking why God has forsaken him. Instead,
immediately before his death he proclaims that the intention of his sending
into the world is accomplished (cf. John 19:30 with Mk 15:34 par.).
Compared with this, the Gospel of Thomas has virtually no narrative
frame for the words of Jesus. This, however, is no indication that it
belongs to an earlier level of tradition. Even the Sayings source—allegedly
the oldest collection of sayings of Jesus—offers a rather precise local and
chronological setting for the actions of Jesus. 82 The fact that the Gospel of
also narrative details of the Gospel of John that could be considered to be historically
more plausible than the corresponding statements of the synoptic tradition. A notable
example is the temple saying of Jesus and the dating of Jesus’ execution. The differences
between the Johannine text and the synoptic tradition have frequently been
traced back exclusively to the theological intention of the Fourth Evangelist.
However, there are also historical arguments for the authenticity of the Johannine
statements. On the debate concerning the temple saying of Jesus, see, e.g., Jostein
Ådna, Jesu Stellung zum Tempel: Die Tempelaktion und das Tempelwort Jesu als Ausdruck seiner
messianischen Sendung (WUNT 2.119; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000), 111–21; Kurt
Paesler, Das Tempelwort Jesu: Die Tradition von Tempelzerstörung und Tempelerneuerung im
Neuen Testament (FRLANT 184; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999), 30–31;
on the dating of the execution, esp. on the death of Jesus, see, e.g., Gerd Theissen
and Annette Merz, Der historische Jesus: Ein Lehrbuch (3d ed.; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck
& Ruprecht, 2001), 152–54, 388–89.
82. The debate on the Sayings Source (Q) and its relationship to the Gospel of Thomas
is as controversial as the debate on the Gospel of Thomas. We can frequently trace different
views on the Gospel of Thomas back to different preconditions in corresponding