Discovering John

This collection of posthumously published essays by John Ashton manifests his ongoing exegetical work at the end of his life. The essays explore themes arising from his groundbreaking study, Understanding the Fourth Gospel, which John Ashton intended to be preceded by an intellectual autobiography contextualizing this study both in the wider context of biblical scholarship and the particularities of his life. This in itself is an unusual contribution and it sheds much light not only on the current state of Johannine studies but also on the situation of those involved with both church and academy in the closing decades of the twentieth century.

Christopher Rowland is Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture Emeritus, University of Oxford, and was for many years a colleague of John Ashton at the University of Oxford. They shared a common interest in apocalyptic themes in the New Testament, and both edited volumes of essays that were presented on their respective retirements. Catrin H. Williams is Reader in New Testament Studies at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and Research Fellow in the Department of Old and New Testament Studies, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein. The Gospel of John is her main research interest and, with Christopher Rowland, she has edited a volume of essays on apocalyptic themes in the Gospel of John engaging with one of the most original contributions of John Ashton's magisterial study of the Gospel.

Christopher Rowland is Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford. His other publications include 'The Open Heaven' and 'Christian Origins'.