A historical survey and critical evaluation concerning discipleship in the fourth gospel

Abstract

A  historical  survey  and  critical  evaluation  concerning  discipleship  in the Fourth Gospel The historical survey about discipleship  in  the Fourth Gospel  indicates that the  literature  of the  second  half of this  century  was  sketchy  about  this theme.  Up  till  1972  a  thematic-theological  approach  highlighted  some characteristics  of discipleship  as  they  appeared  in  all four  gospels.  The study  of Jimenez  (1972)  was  the  first  substantial  approach  to  research about  discipleship  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  and  caused  a  paradigm  shift  to restrict  his  study  to  only  the  Fourth  Gospel.  During  the  80's  the  interest about  this  theme  increased,  due  to  Rudolph  Bultmann.  After  Bultmann more attention was paid to the situation and circumstances of  the audience which  contribute  to  a  greater  interest  on  discipleship  and  ecclesiology  in the Fourth  Gospel.  Although no  constant current  influence  on discipleship has  been  observed,  most  scholars  are  unanimous  that  the focal  point  of discipleship lies  in the  "Last Discourse".