The Paschal Gospel

Abstract

Chapter Two considers the ways in which the Gospel of John has come to be understood in ‘apocalyptic’ terms, following John Ashton, suggesting instead that the Gospel of John is best understood as a ‘paschal gospel’ in an ‘apocalyptic’ key, noting the implications that this has for understanding the genre of the Gospel and its relation to the Apocalypse, as a two-part work. The chapter further explores what is meant by the term ‘apocalyptic’, especially the correspondence between above and below, and the beginning and the end, as a fundamental feature of Christian theology (‘on earth as it is in heaven’, Adam and Christ), and the modern debate about how apocalyptic thinking works, whether as an ‘eschatological invasion’ or an ‘unveiled fulfilment’, and so what is meant by ‘salvation history’, treating such figures as J. Louis Martyn and NT Wright. The chapter concludes by suggesting that early Christian exegesis, as practiced by the apostles themselves and then the Fathers, is best understood as an ‘apocalyptic’ reading.