Encountering John: The Gospel in Historical, Literary, and Theological Perspective

Most commentaries are useful for helping to decipher problem passages, but they are almost impossible for the average layperson to read from cover to cover. Kostenberger's work can be read from cover to cover (263 pages) with helpful tables, maps, charts, and sidebars which help the reader gain a better understanding of the Gospel of John. Kostenberger does not shy away from problem passages nor controversial topics (such as the differences between the Synoptic Gospels and John). He addresses these topics with research and sound argumentation. After studying the Gospel of John for a number of months, I looked at a number of commentaries and found this one to be the most helpful. Kostenberger helped confirm some of what I learned through my studies and introduced themes and understandings that I completely missed. Even if you are not from a conservative or evangelical perspective, this book should help you understand the Gospel of John. Too bad there is not a "Encountering" book for every book in the Bible. This is a great series.

Encountering John by Andreas Kostenberger is part of the Encountering Biblical Studies series. These books use a commentary format (dividing Scripture passages into chapter and verse divisions) with a mixture of cultural and historical background, theological perspectives, pictures, literary analysis and application. The scholarship is excellent but not pretentious. Useful introductory material helps instruct the reader on how to use the book for personal study. Sidebars, tables, maps and supplemental essays are also indexed for quick reference. As a teacher, I bought this book for additional information to be used alongside the curriculum in my Gospel of John class. However, I found it to be a greater resource than I imagined and often used the applicational sections rather than that of the curriculum because they were so insightful. The Gospel is divided into 5 sections, each emphasizing a particular aspect of Jesus' ministry as John sees it (for ex. Part 3: Encountering the Earthly Jesus; The Mission to the Jews Including the Seven Signs and Part 5: Encountering the One Who Calls Us to Follow). I particularly like the cultural and historical background aspects of Biblical Study which I find to be a strength of this entire series (examples include: The Significance of Jewish Festivals in John, and the Chronology fo the Passion Narrative in John and the Synoptics). I think Encountering John is one of the best the Encountering Biblical Studies series has to offer (Some of the other volumes I own are Readings From the First-Century World and Encountering the Book of Hebrews).

excellent resource for teaching and personal growth - superb style of writing. Every serious student of JOHN needs this book.

Encountering John is an outstanding college level volume on the fourth Gospel. The book is Evangelical, conservative and scholarly. I found it comprehensive in scope, while concise in content. Kostenberger occasionally presents his personal bias but always supports his views with reasonable arguments. Each chapter includes an outline, objectives, key words, interesting vignettes, and study questions. I would highly recommend the book to the serious student looking for a concise and readable overview of John's Gospel.

Dr. Kostenberger has done a good job in his commentary on John. It is written at a level that would stretch Bible college students and would be comfortable for most seminary students. He is a very clear writer and he summarizes frequently and effectively to help the reader gain the most from this book. Most of the charts and diagrams are very helpful as well as the study questions. The appendices are exciting reading into some insights he takes into the Gospel. Dr. Kostenberger takes the generally accepted conservative stance on nearly all controversial issues. He supports Johannine authorship, a seven-sign structure in the Book of Signs, and the general coherency of the text. He views are supported heavily from the biblical data.This commentary would do well to any student of the New Testament wanting a good intermediate commentary that does not go into the Greek or much syntactical analysis.