Gift Upon Gift

This study builds upon recent scholarship exploring the significance of the Old Testament covenant metaphor in the Johannine writings. By examining the Gospel of John as a whole through a narrative lens and focusing on several key dialogues, the author sheds light on the dialogical nature of the revelatory process and the central role of covenant for the Fourth Evangelist. Also incorporating recent scholarship that suggests the evangelist understood himself to be writing Scripture based upon fulfillment language present in summary statements across the Gospel, and demonstrating a relationship between the Fourth Gospel and ancient drama that renders speech as action, this work attempts to construct a new paradigm for reading John against the background of the Old Testament covenant metaphor. The claim is twofold: the Johannine story of Jesus Christ is a carefully crafted literary treatise theologically underpinned by discourse on covenant and Scripture, and the Fourth Evangelist provides catechesis to a believing community on the nature of its faith in the God of Israel's ongoing covenant with the created order. By grasping the theological fabric of the evangelist, the richness of the dialogue and imagery of his Gospel is allowed to have its full voice in terms of covenant fulfillment and the ongoing commitment of God to a believing people.

""With an impressive critical command of scholarship on the Fourth Gospel since Bultmann, this study will play a significant role in the ongoing quest to see the Gospel correctly aligned within its matrix in the Jewish tradition. It represents a notable contribution to Jewish-Christian understanding as well as to Johannine scholarship.""
--Brendan Byrne, SJ, Melbourne College of Divinity

""Sherri Brown's book is a delight to read. Rich in insight and sensitively treating the faith perspective of this Gospel, she proposes that God's covenantal relationship with Israel is now continued and explicated fully in God's covenantal gift of Jesus--a gift upon gift (John 1:16). Her well written study examines John's understanding of Scripture and the trauma of post-70 believers as they negotiate belief in Jesus in continuity and tension with Judaism. I welcome and highly recommend this addition to Johannine scholarship.""
--Mary L. Coloe, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne

""Sherri Brown provides a wonderfully insightful rereading of the Gospel according to John in light of the biblical covenant motif. Her analysis highlights the mother of Jesus, 'the Jews,' and Pilate as three characters who respectively epitomize acceptance of Jesus, rejection of Jesus, and the ambivalence of not knowing what is at stake. With Brown's covenantal reading of the Johannine story, the old gospel becomes a fresh story, acquiring new life and shedding new light.""
--Raymond F. Collins, Brown University


Sherri Brown (PhD, Catholic University of America) is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Niagara University. She has written several articles on the apostle Paul, but here returns to her first passion in biblical studies, the Gospel of John.