John The Evangelist - Authorship

Authorship

Collectively, the Gospel, the four Epistles, and Revelation are known as Johannine literature. Traditional Christian thought on the subject points to St. John the Apostle as the author of the Gospel, the three Epistles and the Book of Revelation that bear his name, and there is some internal textual evidence to suggest they may have been authored by the same person (see textual criticism). Of the Johannine literature, Revelation bears the least grammatical similarity to the Gospel. Many modern scholars hold that the Apostle John wrote none of these texts. Others, however, maintain the traditional position with respect to some or all of these books. Craig Blomberg argues that disagreements over Johannine authorship of the fourth gospel tend to reflect methodological differences.

Numerous modern scholars dispute that these works were by the same person. The most widely accepted view is that - whether or not the same man wrote all the Johannine literature - it all came out of the same community in Asia Minor, which had some connection to John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter.

The author of the Gospel of John never identifies himself by name, but the text identifies him as the "Beloved Disciple" repeatedly referred to in the Gospel. The author of this Gospel is also sometimes presumed to be the author of 1 John, and also, more rarely, of 2 John and 3 John. The 4th century Council of Rome decreed that the author of 1 John and that of 2 and 3 John should be regarded as distinct individuals.

Orthodox Roman Catholic scholarship, some Protestant Churches, and the entire Eastern Orthodox Church attributes all of the Johannine literature to the same individual, the "Holy Apostle and Evangelist, John the Theologian", whom it identifies with the "Beloved Disciple" in the Gospel of John.