Making the Focal Map of Johannine Studies: A Survey of Modern Scholarship

Öz

The most studied text the four gospels is the Gospel of John, which is also known as the Fourth Gospel. Academics have been prolific in their study of it, using many different methods and coming up with numerous questions and answers related to the text. From the beginning of the 20th century alone, over 1000 individual works on this gospel have been published. Moreover, twenty percent of these belong to the last 25 years. Surveying the literature over the last two centuries, one notices studies on the Gospel of John in different fields such as history, psychology, sociology, literature, and palaeography. It is particularly of note to observe that, apart from theology, the history of religions constitutes a very productive literature on this gospel. Such a multidisciplinary research spectrum as this has brought with it methodological diversity. It might easily be expected that in the near future Johannine studies will maintain and even increase their importance. Looking back from the point reached, one can already observe the rather colourful panorama that these studies display. The aim of this article is to analyse this panoramic picture by tracing the changes in the methodology and research focus of Johannine studies over the past century. Accordingly, we will try to show the methodological line of Johannine studies from historical to literary criticism through the foci of research, which are the evangelist, the Johannine community, and the text of John.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Johannine studies
• Fourth Gospel
• Historical criticism
• Literary criticism
• Evangelist
• Johannine community

Yuhanna Çalışmalarının Odak Haritasını Çıkarmak: Modern Araştırmalar Üzerine Bir İnceleme

Öz

Dört İncil arasında en çok çalışılan metin Dördüncü İncil olarak da bilinen Yuhanna İncili’dir. Yuhanna çalışmaları farklı metotlar, sorular ve cevaplarla oldukça üretken bir akademik alandır. Yirminci yüzyılın başından itibaren 1000’in üzerinde müstakil eser yayınlanmıştır. Üstelik bu eserlerin yüzde yirmisi son 25 yıla aittir. Kabaca son iki yüzyıla bakıldığında Yuhanna İncili üzerine teoloji dışında başta dinler tarihi olmak üzere tarih, psikoloji, sosyoloji, edebiyat ve paleografi gibi farklı alanlarda yapılan çalışmaların oldukça verimli bir literatür oluşturduğu fark edilmektedir. Alanın sahip olduğu çok disiplinli araştırma yelpazesi metodolojik çeşitliliği de beraberinde getirmiştir. Yakın gelecekte Yuhanna çalışmalarının önemini koruyacağı ve hatta artıracağı rahatlıkla söylenebilir. Geriye doğru bakıldığında ise Yuhanna çalışmalarının oldukça renkli bir panoramaya sahip olduğu görülmektedir. Bu makalenin amacı, geçtiğimiz yüzyılda Yuhanna çalışmalarının yöntem ve araştırma odaklarındaki değişimin izini sürerek bu panoramik fotoğrafın analizini yapmaktır. Bu doğrultuda, Dördüncü İncil özelinde yapılan çalışmaların tarihsel eleştiriden edebi eleştiriye uzanan metodolojik çizgisini, araştırma odakları olan evanjelist/İncil yazarı, Yuhanna cemaati ve İncil metni üzerinden göstermeye çalışacağız.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Yuhanna çalışmaları
• Dördüncü İncil
• Tarihsel kritik
• Edebi kritik
• İncil yazarı
• Yuhanna cemaati

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