This is the third of a series of volumes in the Johannine Studies series being published by Brill Publishers of Leiden. This volume is on the topic of Johannine Christology. Narrow parameters have not been set on this topic, as is reflected in the varied nature of the individual contributions. These contributions have been divided into four sections to reflect the range of studies included. The first volume in the series was Stanley E. Porter and Andrew K. Gabriel, Johannine Writings and Apocalyptic: An Annotated Bibliography, JOST 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2013), and the second was Stanley E. Porter and Hughson T. Ong, eds., The Origins of John’s Gospel, JOST 2 (Leiden: Brill, 2016). It is encouraging to see the strong and positive response to these first two volumes as we continue the series through the completion of the first five volumes. Subsequent volumes currently scheduled to appear are as follows:
Volume 4: The Johannine Prologue and its Resonances
Volume 5: John’s Gospel and its Sources
Johannine studies has seen a resurgence of interest in the last several years, with many of the assured results of previous Johannine scholarship being re-examined. These include theories regarding the origins of John’s Gospel, its relationship to the Synoptic Gospels, its theology, its historiography, and many other topics. This volume is part of a concerted effort to address the need for avenues of dedicated publication of Johannine studies. Study of the Johannine writings, including the Gospel, three Johannine letters, and Revelation, has been hampered by a lack of such dedicated publication. There are many such opportunities, including specific series and journals, for study of the Synoptic Gospels, and an equivalent number for the Pauline writings. Therefore, it is appropriate and necessary to publish a series devoted to the Johannine writings and their many attendant research questions. This Johannine Studies series concentrates upon topics of special relevance for Johannine research, especially where recent work is re-conceptualizing old topics or introducing new ones. The number of scholars devoting their efforts to such areas continues to grow, as is evidenced by the numbers of sessions dedicated to Johannine studies at recent major conferences, as well as the variety of Johannine publications finding their ways into various journals and other works.
I would like to invite any scholars interested in making contributions to one or more of these scheduled volumes to be in contact with me regarding their proposed work, including submitting their paper (please submit in Word file and pdf, following SBL guidelines). Contact information is provided below. The topics of the volumes are being defined and interpreted broadly, so that papers that deal, for example, with clearly related subjects (and especially those that encompass the breadth of the Johannine corpus), we hope will be able to find a home in these collections of papers. Plans for the fourth and fifth volumes are already underway, so those interested in publishing in these volumes should not hesitate to make contact immediately. As with similar series, the anticipated and ideal rate of publication is one volume per year, although our timing has not lived up to this expectation. We are also contemplating extending the series according to interest in these initial five volumes. I would request that submissions be made by 31 January of a given year for publication later in that calendar year. This means that papers for the fourth volume, The Johannine Prologue and its Resonances, should be submitted (due to publication delays with this volume) by 31 January 2021, so as to allow time for review and then editing. I will be in contact with all authors of submissions regarding the status of their essays.
I would like to thank my Graduate Assistant, Zachary Dawson, for his editorial acumen in helping to see this volume through to publication when there had been a number of delays that hindered it. I would also like to thank those who have encouraged the development of this project at Brill, especially Louise Schouten, Laura Morris, and Tessa Schild, who have continued to be an encouragement as this project took shape and is now finally coming to its full fruition.
Stanley E. Porter
McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada