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The Riddle os the Fourth Gospel by Poul Anderson

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Anderson writes The Riddles of the Fourth Gospel to provide students, of any level, with an overview and evaluation of the varying approaches to understanding the Fourth Gospel, and ultimately to serve as a guide through the controversy and riddles encountered in the Fourth Gospel. Anderson addresses the work of the international community of Johannine scholars and introduces a new set of paradigms. The introduction immediately captivates those who have yet to wade in the perplexities of the Fourth Gospel by bombarding the reader with the many puzzlements of the Fourth Gospel. Anderson tackles the issue in three parts.
Part one introduces the most perplexing of the Johannine riddles. After an outline of the Gospel of John, Anderson presents the threefold riddles: theological, historical, and literary. Anderson considers familiarity with the points of contention a requisite for engaging, addressing, and interpreting them. Chapter one exposes the central features of the Fourth Gospel; which effectively reveals the dissimilarities between John and the Synoptic Gospels. Chapter two uncovers the theological riddles of the Fourth Gospel, both “incidental” and “highly significant.” For the twelve theological riddles presented in chapter 2, Anderson conveys the work of Johannine scholarship as well as presents his own incisive exegesis. Anderson does likewise in his presentation of the historical and literary riddles in chapters 3 and 4. The first part successfully establishes the

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