Teaching and researching the Gospel of John for thirty years has led author Mary L. Coloe to an awareness of the importance of the wisdom literature to make sense of Johannine theology, language, and symbolism: in the prologue, with Nicodemus, in the Bread of Life discourse, with Mary and Lazarus, and in the culminating “Hour.” She also shows how the late Second Temple theology expressed in the books of Sirach and Wisdom, considered deuterocanonical and omitted from some Bible editions, are essential intertexts. Only the book of Wisdom speaks of “the reign of God” (Wis 10:10), “eternity life” (Wis 5:15), and the ambrosia maintaining angelic life (Wis 19:21)—all concepts found in John’s Gospel.
While the Gospel explicitly states the Logos was enfleshed in Jesus, this is also true of Sophia. Coloe makes the case that Jesus’s words and deeds embody Sophia throughoutthe narrative. At the beginning of each chapter Coloe provides text from the later wisdom books that resonate with the Gospel passage, drawing Sophia out of the shadows.
Contents
List of Abbreviations ix
Author’s Introduction xiii
John 11:1-54 Sophia Is Justified by Her Works: The Raising of Lazarus 313
John 11:55–12:50 Sophia’s Testing Begins 333
John 13–17 Sophia’s Banquet: Overview 353
John 13:1-38 Sophia’s Gifts 359
John 14:1-31 Sophia’s Household 381
John 15:1-17 Sophia’s Friends 401
John 15:18–16:4a Sophia’s Friends to Be Tested by the Synagogue 431
John 16:4b-33 Sophia’s Friends to Be Tested by the World 443
John 17:1-26 Sophia’s Prayer for Her Friends 457
John 18:1–19:42 Sophia’s Hour Arrives 473
John 20:1-31 Sophia’s Radiance 507
John 21:1-25 Sophia Has Built Her House— The Gospel Continues 537
Afterword 551
Works Cited 553
Index of Scripture References and Other Ancient Writings 571
Index of Modern Authors and Subjects 585
Mary L. Coloe, Barbara E. Reid, Mary Ann Beavis
Mary L. Coloe, PBVM, is professor of New Testament at Yarra Theological Union, a college of the University of Divinity in Melbourne. Mary taught for over twenty years at Australian Catholic University and also at Boston College, the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, and in Jerusalem. Mary has many academic publications on the Gospel of John, as well as books to help parents and teachers, such as A Friendly Guide to John, The Two Hands of God, and A Friendly Guide to the Birth of Jesus. Mary has also written an introduction to the Johannine literature for the new revised edition of the Jerome Biblical Commentary. Barbara E. Reid, general editor of the Wisdom Commentary series, is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is the Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies, and president emerita of Catholic Theological Union (the first woman who held the position). She has been a member of the CTU faculty since 1988 and also served as vice president and academic dean from 2009 to 2018. She holds a PhD in biblical studies from The Catholic University of America and was president of the Catholic Biblical Association in 2014–2015. Her most recent publications are Luke 1–9 and Luke 10–24, co-authored with Shelly Matthews (WCS 43A, 43B; Liturgical Press, 2021); and At the Table of Holy Wisdom: Global Hungers and Feminist Biblical Interpretation (Paulist, 2023).
Mary Ann Beavis is professor emerita of religion and culture at St. Thomas More College (Saskatoon, Canada). She received MA degrees from the University of Manitoba and the University of Notre Dame; she holds a PhD from Cambridge University (UK). Her areas of interest and expertise include Christian origins, feminist biblical interpretation, Christianity and Goddess spirituality, and religion and popular culture. She is the author of several single-author and edited books as well as many peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews.
"From the raising of Lazarus to the resurrection of Jesus and beyond, Coloe puts the gospel narrative into a lively and life-giving conversation with the Sophia (wisdom) tradition that gives the series its name."
Christian Century "As the study unfolds, the power of Sophia and not simply Logos becomes obvious. No wonder we need this commentary series."
WATER