Floyd V. Filson's Introduction To The Gospel Of John

The Gospel of John, written by an anonymous author in approximately 95 CE, is often attributed to John, the son of Zebedee, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus in the New Testament. According to scholars, several sources were used for this narrative, including a signs source, which recorded the signs that Jesus performed, a discourse source, which recorded Jesus’ speeches, and a Passion source, which recorded the crucifixion of Jesus (Ehrman 181). In addition to these sources, the author refers to an eyewitness, the Beloved Disciple, as “the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them,” causing scholars to question if the Beloved Disciple is John, the son of Zebedee, the author of the Gospel of John, both, or neither (John 21:24). Though many scholars have abandoned the idea of John, the son of Zebedee, as the author of the Gospel of John, they are still attempting to identify the unnamed “disciple whom Jesus loved” by studying the Gospel of John (John 21:20). Floyd V. Filson, a
Raymond E. Brown’s Introduction to the Gospel of John is a proposal on the development of the Gospel of John and the changes that were made to the original Gospel over time. Brown’s first stage of development includes the Gospel of John originating from the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Brown considers this first version of the Gospel of John to be based on a witness’s personal experience of Jesus. Brown’s second stage of development includes the oral transmission of Jesus’ life and teachings in a post-resurrection Christian community. In Brown’s third stage of development, someone other than the Beloved Disciple, referred to by Brown as “the evangelist,” learned the tradition of the Beloved Disciple, and shared it by writing it down as a theologically-motivated narrative (Brown 79). Finally, another figure, “the redactor,” revised the text (Brown