Category:Beloved Disciple--history (subject)

• BACK TO THE FIELDS OF RESEARCH--INDEX

Survey of scholarly works on the Beloved Disciple in the Gospel of John.

Overview

There have been as many attempts to identify the Beloved Disciple as there have been commentaries on the Gospel of John.

In 1985, James H. Charlesworth argued that the Beloved Disciple should be identified with the disciple Thomas. Other scholars (Eller, Waejen, and most recently, Ben Witherington III [see http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2007/01/was-lazarus-beloved-disciple.html]) have seen in Lazarus a more likely candidate. None of the suggested hypotheses has gained consensus.

Most recently, The Gospel of John (2010 Michaels), book goes into the various possibilities (see pp. 17ff). Ramsey maintains that the Beloved Disciple is not Andrew, Philip, Nathaniel, Judas Iscariot, Thomas, Lazarus, Mary, Martha, Judas-not-Iscariot, Mary Magdalene, or a son of Zebedee. He was male, but other than that, he remains anonymous. Ramsey concludes his discussion on the identity of the Beloved Disciple as putative author of the Fourth Gospel as follows: ... he tells his story freely, yet... he retains his privacy, a privacy that even the most inquisitive commentator will do well to respect (p. 24).

Select Bibliography (articles)

1960s

• Who Was the Beloved Disciple / S. Lewis Johnson / In: Expository Times 77.5 (1966) 157-158.

1970s

• Der Jünger, den Jesus liebte / Rudolf Schnackenburg / Evangelisch-Katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament. Vorarbeiten 2 (1970) 97-117

• Beloved disciple in the gospel of John: some clues and conjectures / Paul Sevier Minear / In: Novum Testamentum 19.2 (1977) 105-123

1980s

• The relation of the beloved disciple to the twelve / John J. Gunther / In: Theologische Zeitschrift 37.3 (1981) 129-148

• Der Jünger, den Jesus liebte / Eugen Ruckstuhl / Studien zum Neuen Testament und seiner Umwelt. Aufsätze 11 (1986) 131-167

• The Function and Background of the Beloved Disciple in the Gospel of John / Hans-Martin Schenke / in:Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism, and Early ChristianityHedrick, Charles W. - Hodgson, Robert, Jr. (eds.), Peabody (Mass.), Hendrickson, 1986, p. 111-125.

• Le disciple bien-aimé / Jean Zumstein / In: Cahiers Bibliques de Foi et Vie 86.5 (1987) 47-58

• The Beloved Disciple and Implied Readers: A Socio-narratological Approach / William S. Kurz / In: Biblical Theology Bulletin 19 (1989) 100-107

1990s

• The Beloved Disciple as Ideal Author / Richard J. Bauckham / In: Journal for the Study of the New Testament 49 (1993) 21-44

2000s

• 'Der Jünger, den Jesus liebte': Ideale Nachfolge im Johannesevangelium / Philip Müller / In: Geist und Leben 78.2 (2005) 81-91
  • The Beloved Disciple might be a historical figure but in the Gospel of John represents the ideal post-Easter disciple of Jesus

• "The Disciple Jesus Loved". Witness, Author, Apostle - A Response to Richard Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitnesses / Andreas J. Köstenberger / In: Bulletin for Biblical Research 18.2 (2008) 209-231
  • Supports the identification of the Beloved Disciple with John son of Zebedee against Bauckham's identification with "John the Presbyter" mentioned by Papias.

• The Chiastic Key to the Identity of the Beloved Disciple / Daniel F. Stramara / In: St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 53.1 (2009) 5-27

2010s

• Whom Did Jesus Love Most? Beloved Disciples in John and Other Gospels / Marvin Meyer / In: The Legacy of John. Second-Century Reception of the Fourth Gospel (NT.S 132), Rasimus, Tuomas (ed.), Leiden / Boston, Brill, 2010, p. 73-91.

• "The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved" / Philip Müller / In: Theology Digest 54.2 (2010) 157-163