Woods, Nicholas <br/><br/>
Contemporary Challenges to the Gospel: incipient Gnosticism ans Johannine Teaching on the Resurrection 

 - Johannesburg, South Africa  South African Theological Seminary  2011 
 - 164p  PDF  A4  Abstract. Table of contents. List of key words. Works cited. 
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<br/><br/> Within the past generation, a new school of scholars has arisen who view the texts discovered  at  Nag  Hammadi asequal  to  or  evensuperior  tothe  traditional  canonical materials. They view several of these texts and particularly, The Gospel of Thomas,as containing  independent  traditions  that  form  the  earliest  layers  in  the  development  of Christianity.   As  the  pool  of  texts  used  to  illustrate  the  historical  Jesus  continues  to broaden and increase,Incipient Gnosticism is being seenmore and moreas thesource of Jesus‘ teaching.  As  this  continues  to  happen,key  traditional  doctrines  such  as  the future, bodily resurrection of believers are reinterpreted or done away with altogether. This studylooks   carefully  at   the   Gnostic   and   Incipient   Gnostic view   of   the resurrection and compares it to the view given in The Gospel of John. The viewof the resurrectionin The  Gospel  of  Johnis  used  as  a  test  case  against  the  Gnostic  or Incipient  Gnostic perspective.  Furthermore,  the studyanalyzes  the  variousnew texts that have been identified as the earliest sources of Jesus‘ teaching. Once each of thesesources  has  been  critically  analyzed,a  determinationhas  to  be  madeas  to  whether they make a contributionor are a substantial influenceas towhatJesustaughton the resurrection.Finally, the studyattempts to find a plausible solution to the problemof what is the true background of John‘s Gospel. This study concludes that the answerliesnot in the Nag  Hammadi literature,  but  rather,in  the  documents  of  Qumran  and in  the  broader Jewish context.Theproblem  of  a  Gnostic  or  Incipient  Gnostic  background  to Jesus‘ teachingis  re-examined  in  light  of  the  parallels  between  thePalestinianQumran materials  and The  Gospel  According  to  John. Consequently,  different  conclusions  are then reached as far as the background of John‘s Gospel is concerned.The  study concludes that given aPalestinian background to The Gospel of John, Jesus‘ teachingon the resurrection appears to be both futuristic and corporeal. 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/>Christian heresies--Incipient Gnosticism--South Africa