LIFE ABOUNDING: A READING OF JOHNíS GOSPEL
Brendan Byrne; St Paul’s Publications, Strathfield, NSW; $35.95
Reviewed by Terry Oberg
NO book has been more misunderstood than the Bible.
No book makes more demands on those who seek to unravel its message than the Bible.
No book has been the catalyst of so much brilliant scholarship as the Bible.
Fr Brendan Byrne’s exegetical study of the fourth gospel is a fine example of such brilliance.
This finely tuned approach presents the evangelist’s thoughts clearly and convincingly.
The cutely titled “Read Me First” provides a preparatory guide to what is to follow.
This introduction analyses some literary difficulties of which readers need to be sensitive.
These include the use of repetition and the image of Christ that this document presents.
In common with other genres, scripture lavishly uses irony and symbolism.
How these are to be interpreted is also dealt with in this section.
The textual study is divided into four parts – The Prologue, the revelation of Jesus’ glory, the Easter narrative beginning with the Last Supper, culminating in the Resurrection and the consequent apostolic vocation of spreading the Word.
A useful complement to the above is the following glossary of terms which seem to have a specific Johannine connotation.
The probing of words such as, “hour”, “spirit” and “sign” is more than a self-indulgent game of semantics.
The Jewish communal writers used language precisely and definitively.
The glossary acknowledges this.
As one would expect, the documentation is copious.
It includes a comprehensive bibliography, an index of scriptural references and modern authors, ending with a subject reference.
The title is intriguing.
An inspiring Christian Brother, under whose leadership I had the privilege to work, frequently told staff meetings at Nudgee College that the school’s aim was to make it possible for the boys “to have life and have it to the full”. This, of course, is the “life abounding” – Fr Byrne’s title and the theme of this wonderful gospel.
