In this volume, originally presented as the 1987 Stone Lectures aat Princeton Theological Seminary, Professor Hengel brings his own distinctive approach to the Johannine Literature. Hengel examines complex questions of origin and authorship. In the process he shows that many ancient traditions regarding the Gospel's place of origin and its authorship have been far too quickly and carelessly dismissed. Professor Hengel opens his discussion with references to the Fourth Gospel in the second century. Through internal evidence fro the Johannine letters, he moves back into the first century to examine the community to which these letters relate and he provides an outline of the person and character of the elder who is the focal point of the Johannine school, and through him traces a history of the Gospel tradition back to a figure who witnessed the death of Jesus in Jerulasalem. The final chapter offers startling conclusions that will doubtless fuel the debate that began with the advent of modern critical scholarship.