Welcome!

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1, NRSV).

And so begins the Fourth Gospel, what we commonly know as the Gospel of John. Yet, this statement is more than the opening line of an ancient biography. This was the confessional statement of Christians who lived in the eastern half of the Roman Empire for centuries, and it is still used today by the Orthodox Church to declare the divine sovereignty of Christ.

However, it is not a statement that is readily repeated by those in the West. We do not like to waste our time with high philosophy and spiritual quests. Yet, we must embark on a spiritual quest in order to understand the rich meaning of this simple statement.

And this is our purpose this semester--to delve into the "spiritual" Gospel and encounter a Jesus that is virtually unknown to us. In John's Gospel, we will encounter a Jesus who is mysterious and mystical, a Messiah who seems to be just a step out of sync with reality. Or, perhaps, He is a step ahead of everyone else. In either case, we will see a Jesus that is unfamiliar to us, one that we need to see and need to heed His invitation of "Come and see."

I have set up this website to provide you with access to the lecture material that I will be presenting. If you want to put off Carpal Tunnel Syndrome for a little while, you may wish to copy-and-paste this material to a Word document and then bring that to class for additional notes.

I hope that you are excited about our journey together. I pray that you will have a spiritual experience this semester as we examine the life of Jesus from this unusual retelling. I also ask that you pray for me as I present this material. If all works out well, we will all benefit from our time spent together this semester. Grace and peace.

Note: Much of the material from this course has been developed by reading the few commentaries that I have and compiling notes from courses in John that I have taken throughout the years. I would like to thank the following for their preparation in the courses I took:

• Dr. Shawn Daggett, Harding University (BNEW 317/Fall 1999)
• Dr. Michael Martin, Lubbock Christian University (BMIN 6307-2/Spring 2006)
• Dr. Ken Neller, Harding University (GRK 271/Fall 1998)
• Dr. Michael Weed, Austin Graduate School of Theology (NT 6303/Spring 2004)

I would also like to thank Dr. Perry Stepp of Kentucky Christian University for giving me the opportunity to teach this course and for the material that he also provided to me.