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Literary eyewitnesses: The appeal to an eyewitness in John and contemporaneous literature
Litwa, M. David
Litwa, M. David
Author
Abstract
This essay supports the thesis that the Beloved Disciple is a purely literary character employed as a literary device of authentication recognisable during the late first and early second centuries CE. As evidence, three works are thoroughly compared with the Fourth Gospel in regard to their eyewitness appeals: Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius of Tyana (a biography), the Wonders beyond Thule by Antonius Diogenes (a historiographical novel) and the Diary of the Trojan War (a revisionary history) attributed to Dictys of Crete. All three works are roughly contemporaneous with the Fourth Gospel and offer important insights into the sophisticated use of an eyewitness as a literary character to guarantee the (spiritual and moral) truth of a narrative.
Keywords
John, Fourth Gospel, Beloved Disciple, eyewitness, literary conventions, history, fiction, myth, Dictys of Crete, Antonius Diogenes, Philostratus
Date
2018
Type
Journal article
Journal
New Testament Studies
Book
Volume
64
Issue
3
Page Range
343-361
Article Number
ACU Department
Collections
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Source URL
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Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled