Author Interview: Becoming John: The Making of a Passion Gospel

Professor Emeritus Kari Syreeni discusses the inspiration and goals behind one of our most recently published Library of New Testament Studies works, Becoming John: The Making of a Passion Gospel.

1. How would you describe your book in one sentence?

Obviously, a new hypothesis about the redaction - or the BECOMING - of the Gospel of John.

2. What drew to you writing about the Gospel of John, and how long has it been a part of your research?

I come from synoptic studies. My doctoral thesis was about the Sermon on the Mount, and since then I have studied Matthew and Luke in particular. I have been fascinated by John for more than ten years and have written several articles on John before the opportunity came to prepare a whole monograph. One intriguing problem which I confronted when studying Luke was how to explain the striking parallels between Luke-Acts and John. I hesitated long before finally making up my mind about the direction of the Luke-John influence. Moreover, I have always been interested in hermeneutics, and John was very much inviting of such issues.