authorship of the Gospel
Introduction The authorship of the Gospel has been debated, especially during the last century. ... In my essay I will examine and assess various viewpoints about the authorship of the Gospel. Initially, I wish to look at the evidence in the gospel text itself. The gospel suggests that its accounts come from an eyewitness. ... But evidence in the gospel also refers to ‘we’ which has led to more recent claims that the fourth gospel was written by, or edited by, a group of people, often referred to as the Johannine circle. ... The one clue given in the text of the gospel is found in two verses 21 ,where the disciple following Jesus is identified as the beloved disciple, after which it is asserted that this is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things. The authorship of the gospel is said to be written by the beloved disciple who is said to be John the apostle. ... Irenaeus said that the author was John, the disciple of the lord who gave the gospel to the elders, and lived at Ephesus until the time of Trajan. ... This traditional view has a number of supporting data in the Gospel itself to that John the son of Zebedee was the author of the gospel. ... Third, the knowledge of the geography of Palestine further supports a Jewish authorship.