What Have They Done?

I had planned to post my blog on James 5:6 this week, but what started off as a little idea has now transformed into a 3000 word essay which I'm really hoping to get critiqued by those interested in Jacobean studies. Either I am off with the fairies in proposing something radical about James' theology, or I have hit a nerve deep within the heart of James. I'll let others decide my fate.

In the mean time, I'm looking at getting Ben Witherington's new book: What Have They Done with Jesus?: Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History. An Amazon reviewer made this comment that struck me: There are a few surprises along the way. Ben makes a powerful and convincing case that the beloved disciple who penned the fourth gospel is none other than Lazarus. He also holds (less convincingly in my view) that Joanna the wife of Chuza who traveled with the Lord's apostolic band (Luke 8:1-3) is in all likelihood to be identified with the female apostle Junia found in Romans 16:7.

If I am not mistaken, Richard Bauckham also proposes that Junia and Joanna are the same person [See his study: Gospel Women]. But the thought that Lazarus was the author of the Gospel of John? I know that I'm rather sceptical, and even stunned. Can't wait to read it though! I wonder how scholarship will receive such an argument. I'm particularly thinking of Martin Hengel's The Four Gospels and the One Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Investigation of the Collection and Origin of the Canonical Gospels.

For those interested: J E T S has added several decades of back articles onto their website, so be sure to check it out...