Christians

The role of a the Beloved disciple --

The admission of a second group and a higher Christology.

Description of the second group o Johannine Christians

Resultant conflict with "the Jews"

The higher Christology

Corollaries for Johannine theology

Continuity with the earlier stage --

The Gentiles and a more universalist outlook --

Phase two.

When the gospel was written: Johannine relations to outsiders.

Non-believers detectable in the gospel.

Group I.

The world

Group II.

The Jews

Group III.

The adherents of John the Baptist --

Other Christians detectable in the gospel.

Group IV.

The Crypto-Christians

Group V.

The Jewish Christian churches of inadequate faith

Group VI.

The Christians of apostolic churches --

Was the Johannine community a sect? --

Phase three.

When the epistles were written: Johannine internal struggles.

The life-situation envisaged in the epistles.

The Johannine churches

The Johannine school

The intra-Johannine schism --

The areas of dispute.

Christology.

Position of the secessionists

Refutation by the author --

Ethics.

Intimacy with God and sinlessness

Keeping the commandments

Brotherly love --

Eschatology --

Pneumatology --

Phase four.

After the epistles: Johannine dissolution.

The history of the fourth gospel in the second century --

The secessionists and the second century heterodoxy --

The author's adherents and the Great church reflection --

Summary charts --

Appendix I.

Recent reconstructions of Johannine community history --

Appendix II.

Roles of women in the fourth gospel --

Bibliographical index --

Subject index.

"This study in Johannine ecclesiology reconstructs the history of one Christian community in the first century -- a community whose life from its inception to its last hour is reflected in the Gospel and Epistles of John. It was a community that struggled with the world, with the Jews, and with other Christians. Eventually the struggle spread even to its own ranks. It was, in short, a community not unlike the Church of today. This book offers a different view of the traditional Johannine eagle. In the Gospel the eagle soars above the earth, but with talons bared for the fray. In the Epistles we discover the eaglets tearing at each other for possession of the nest" -- Back cover.