Corpus-Paul

["Ron Price" <ron.price AT virgin.net>]

Mark Nanos wrote:

>Would you please explain in what ways John's gospel shows the writer had
>"adapted Pauline theology and taken it to new heights." This would involve
>an explanation of "Pauline theology" that represents your understanding of
>Paul's theology, the development of the Pauline theology trajectory that
>John takes to new heights, and then of course the ways in which John
>supposedly accomplished this major extension of 1) Paul's theology and 2)
>the Pauline theology trajectory.

Mark,
  This sounds rather a lot. But I'll do what I can.
  My argument is in essence quite simple (though whether you would agree
with it is of course another matter).

  There are at least three theological assertions about Jesus for which
the earliest testimony appears in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians (1
Thess 1:10):
(1) Jesus is the "Son of God"
(2) Jesus rose from the dead 
(3) Jesus is a spiritual saviour (the adjective here is to distinguish
the concept from that of Messiah)

  Mark, the earliest of the gospels, appears to show that these ideas go
back to the lifetime of Jesus. But it is possible using Redaction
Criticism to provide a detailed analysis (too long for a simple e-mail)
to show that the author of Mark's gospel read these ideas back into his
account of Jesus.
  There is no reliable evidence that these views were held by anyone
prior to Paul. Paul's letters show him to have been an extremely skilful
apologist. Therefore it was probably Paul himself who invented them.
Thus they can be classed as "Pauline theology". (Of course there is much
more to Pauline theology than these three statements, but I don't think
that affects the argument here.)

  The Johannine Evangelist proclaimed all three aspects of this Pauline
theology. I see two ways in which this theology is taken further.
  Firstly the Evangelist pointedly avoided mention of Jesus' earthly
origin, instead presenting Jesus as having come down from heaven. This
declaration of an exalted status *prior* to Jesus' life complements the
exalted status *after* his life achieved by the resurrection. It goes
beyond Php 2:7 in having no equivalent to the servant/being born parts.
There is nothing so earthly in the Evangelist's presentation of the
origin of Jesus. This major extension was carried out with great
subtlety. The Redactor spoiled the Evangelist's presentation of Jesus'
exclusively heavenly origin by the addition of 1:43-51 and 7:40-52 so
that few today recognize it. (The evidence and reasoning is on my Web
site under "the formation of John's gospel".)
  Secondly the status "Son of God" is raised to "God" in the climax of
the First Edition of the gospel at 20:28. Indeed John has *two*
statements that Jesus is equal to God: 1:1 and 20:28. These form a frame
for the whole gospel in its First Edition. Thus this major extension is
accomplished with a grand literary flourish.  

Ron Price

Weston-on-Trent, Derby, UK

e-mail:  ron.price AT virgin.net

Web site:  http://homepage.virgin.net/ron.price/index.htm