Studying John: Approaches to the Fourth Gospel - Tapa dura

Ashton is clearly one of the more readable modern biblical scholars. His analogies from literature (classical and modern), music, history, philosophy, as well as his own ability to turn a clever phrase, enable Ashton to merge refreshing style with careful analysis. The result is a book that, with some flaws, is literate, insightful and critical.

There is much in this book to appeal to more traditional scholars of the fourth gospel ... there is some admirable diachronic scholarship in Studying John. (Expository Times)

Stimulating ... beautifully written. (Theology)

No superficial judge, the author proposes thoughtful alternatives to any position he deems seriously flawed ... This present collection of essays and extensive bibliography is tough and serious fare, appropriate to the scholar, teacher, and scholarly pastor. (Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society)

Ashton clearly is one of the more readable of modern biblical scholars. His analogies from literature (classical and modern), music, history, philosophy, as well as his own ability to turn a clever phrase, enable Ashton to merge refreshing style with careful analysis. The result is a book that, with some flaws, is literate, insightful, and critical. (Journal of Religion)

John Ashton ... rises to a spirited defense of historical criticism in his collection of eight essays on the Gospel of John. (The Cresset)

He writes with clarity, scholarly breadth, and with sensitivity for a well-turned phrase ... There is something in his book for almost every Johannine scholar ... it could be used with profit as a reference tool and as a text in graduate seminars on John's Gospel. (Critical Review)

Is historical criticism of the New Testament dead? In this telling collection of eight new studies on John's Gospel, John Ashton argues that this is very far from the case. Challenging the assumptions of methodologies which ignore the historical context in which the Gospel was composed, the author offers a spirited defence of historical criticism and provides practical demonstration of the many new insights which it has still to yield.

The first two chapters treat in greater depth two key themes (the Prologue of John and the Jews) which appeared in the author's Understanding the Fourth Gospel (Clarendon Paperbacks, 1993). A third chapter is intended to supplement and correct this larger work. The rest of the book explores further facets of the Gospel, and at the same time exposes some of the serious theoretical weaknesses in much recent writing on the Gospel.