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VU Research Portal John the Evangelist Furlong, D. 2017 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Furlong, D. (2017). John the Evangelist: Revision and Reinterpretation in Early Christian Sources. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. E-mail address: [email protected] Download date: 06. Oct. 2021 John the Evangelist John John the Evangelist Revision and Reinterpretation in Early Christian Sources Dean Furlong Dean Furlong VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT John the Evangelist Revision and Reinterpretation in Early Christian Sources ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr. V. Subramaniam, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de Faculteit der Godgeleerdheid op vrijdag 1 december 2017 om 11.45 uur in de forumzaal van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door Dean Furlong geboren te Londen, Verenigd Koninkrijk promotor: prof.dr. P.B.A. Smit copromotor: dr. A. Goudriaan ii ABSTRACT It is often claimed that John the Evangelist, the putative author of the Fourth Gospel, was identified in ecclesiastical sources with John the son of Zebedee from the latter part of the second century or earlier. In contrast, this study will argue that John the Evangelist was variously identified with at least three figures, John the Elder, John/Mark and John the son of Zebedee, and that diverse, sometimes conflicting narratives were attributed to him before the contours of the traditional narrative took shape under Eusebius of Caesarea in the early fourth century. The first section of this study will argue that the earliest sources likely identified the Evangelist with a secondary John referred to by Papias in the early second century or earlier as John the Elder. It will further maintain that as the Evangelist and Apostle came to be identified from the third century onward, the previously separate traditions associated with these two figures were conflated, creating new narratives and introducing variations with respect to the chronological placement of John’s banishment and the time and manner of his death. This process, it will be concluded, culminated with Eusebius’ construction of a revised Johannine narrative which came to form the standard narrative for subsequent writers. In the second section of this study, an examination of early and medieval sources will suggest that the Evangelist/Beloved Disciple might have sometimes been identified with the John also known as Mark. Evidence for this will include the depiction of John/Mark in Markan sources as a Johannine figure, if not the Beloved Disciple; the reduplication of Markan traditions under the name of John in western sources; the attribution to Mark of a Johannine-type Gospel; and the correlation in extant sources of the basic geographical and chronological contours of their lives. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ v Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ vi Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Section 1: Primary Witnesses to the Johannine Narrative ..................................... 3 Chapter 1: Papias in Dialogue with Early Christian Sources .................... 4 Chapter 2: Apostle, Elder and Evangelist ................................................ 28 Chapter 3: Gaius and the Alogoi .............................................................. 53 Chapter 4: The Claudian Dating of John’s Banishment .......................... 69 Chapter 5: The Domitianic Dating of John’s Banishment ....................... 92 Chapter 6: The Neronian Dating of John’s Banishment ........................ 114 Chapter 7: Papias and the Gospel of John ............................................. 127 Chapter 8: Eusebius’ Unattributed Passage .......................................... 144 Section 1: Conclusion ............................................................................ 174 Section 2: John, Who Was Also Called Mark ................................................... 176 Chapter 9: Two Markan Narratives ....................................................... 177 Chapter 10: The Confusion of John and Mark in Antiquity .................. 192 Chapter 11: The Priest Wearing the Πέταλον ....................................... 217 Chapter 12: John and Mark: Parallel Lives ........................................... 246 Conclusion to the Study ..................................................................................... 264 Bibliography ...................................................................................................... 270 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I wish to offer my sincere gratitude to the faculty of Theology at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, for affording me the opportunity to carry out this research, and above all to my supervisor, Dr. P.B.A. Smit, for his patient guidance throughout the arduous process of developing and completing this dissertation. I also wish to thank my secondary supervisor, Dr. A. Goudriaan, for his important and valuable perspectives on my work. I would also like to thank Dr. Adel Sidarus, Professor Emeritus of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Évora in Portugal, who made me aware of sources and in one case offered me his own private French translation of an Arabic work not available in English. Gratitude is also due to Dr. Mark House of the Reformed Theological Seminary, who forwarded me his own incomplete English translation of the Acts, Miracles, and Passion of Mark, which I was able to consult for my own translations. I wish to express my deep appreciation to my wife, Dawn, who has supported me over many years and has never stopped believing in the value of my work. Above all, I am grateful to God for his manifold providences in bringing this work to fruition. v ABBREVIATIONS ACCSNT Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament AB Anchor Bible ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. D. N. Freedman (6 vols.; New York: Doubleday, 1992) ACT Ancient Christian Texts ACW Ancient Christian Writers AGAJU Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums AJEC Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity AJT American Journal of Theology AnBoll Analecta Bollandiana ANF The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing Company, 1885–1897; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951–1956), 10 vols. ANWR Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt ArBib The Aramaic Bible series ASGW Abhandlungen der sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften AUSS Andrews University Seminary Studies AVTRW Aufsatze und Vorträge zur Theologie und Religionswissenschaft BAFCS The Book of Acts in Its First Century Setting BBR Bulletin for Biblical Research BDAG Arndt, William, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer, eds. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. vi BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium BFCT Beiträge zur Förderung christlicher Theologie BHTh Beiträge zur historischen Theologie BIS Biblical Interpretation Series BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester BNTC Black’s New Testament Commentary BRev Bible Review BSAC Bulletin de la Société d'archéologie copte BTNT Biblical Theology of the New Testament BW Biblical World CALP The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project CBM Chester Beatty Monographs CBP Cahiers de Biblia Patristica CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CCSA Corpus Christianorum Series Apocryphorum CCSG Corpus Christianorum Series Graeca CCSL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina CGTSC Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges CMR Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History, ed. David Thomas and Alex Mallet, 5 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 2009–2013). CRB Cahiers de la Revue biblique CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum DTT Dansk Teologisk Tidsskrift EAA Collection des Études Augustiniennes. Série Antiquité ECS Early Christian Studies EphMariol Ephemerides Mariologicae EtB Études bibliques EvQ Evangelical Quarterly Exp Expositor ExpT Expository Times vii FC Fathers of the Church FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments GCS Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte GRBS Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies GS Gesammelte