John

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John was a man with very few principles; he probably had Arthur murdered in 1203 (which angered the King of France enough to invade Normandy over it) and is also said to have hanged one of his wife's lovers over her bed (though he was known as a womanizer himself). He also quarreled with the Church over who had the power to nominate people for the position of bishop, and was excommunicated in 1208 for it (though he was accepted back into the church in 1213 when he humbled himself before the Pope's choice for Archbishop of Canterbury).

While John was in France in 1214, his nobles gathered together (under the same Archbishop of Canterbury) to protest his misgovernment, and on John's return forced him to sign the Great Charter (Magna Carta) to recognize the rights of the Church, the barons, and the people of England. John, saying that he had signed under duress, got the Pope's permission to raise an army to fight the barons. The fighting went on for about a year with no clear winner. During the fighting, John's baggage train was swept away while crossing a river and John got extremely upset at losing valuables including his crown. He came down with a fever, which was probably not helped by his emotional state, ate too many peaches with new cider and got dysentery from it, and died a few days later on 18 October 1216. He was succeeded by his son Henry III.

John is known as the archetypical bad king, though he was capable of occasionally showing mercy or generosity toward people. I've heard a story that because of this John's reputation, no likely heir to the throne of England is ever named John (however, I can't find any confirmation of this).

This is often with an indefinate article such as a as in "a john" or in plural form. But it is not necessary. Also a typical name, like John Doe or Jane Doe.

John begins with words of intensity and beauty that only a faithful man can profess.

"What has come into being in him was life and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1:3b-5)."

Through out the entire book similar passages with romantic language can be found. Since the writers of John were in Asia at the time of the book's creation (Class Notes 5/2), and thus influenced by Greek culture, the language shows their motives; namely to seduce Gnostics with the beauty of the text while still preaching Jesus as Lord.

The Book of John not only differs from the other gospels in its use of language, it is also different in perspective. John is written in the third person with any references to the disciple John omitted. If John needs to be referred to, he is called "the disciple whom he (Christ) loved."

Thematically the gospel is based on the Word of God, and the use of light and dark to symbolize those who have experienced and believe the word and others who do not. Jesus himself puts very clearly his mission in these terms when he talks to a group of people just before the Last Supper:

The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you (John 12:35a). And, while you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light (John 12:36).

However the feet washing episode teaches us something more, it is a preparation for His ultimate death and resurrection. As John McKenzie and Paul Visokay put it:

If a person is to share in him, Jesus, if he is to be in communion with him and belong to him, he must accept the slave-service Jesus offers; in other words, he must accept the death of Jesus as a death that brings him salvation (McKenzie II, 24).

Staying out of the dark is the fundamental part of John, and through it's devotion to Jesus as a man and a savior, the book aims to bring the "light" and the "life" of the world to those willing to accept him.

Brown, Raymond E. The Anchor Bible: The Gospel According to John. Volumes XIII-XXI. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc. 1970.

Helms, Randel McCraw. Who Wrote the Gospels?. Altadena, California: Millennium Press 1997.

McKenzie, John L. New Testament for Spiritual Reading: The Gospel According to St. John. Volumes I-III. New York: Crossroad 1981.

The name comes originally from Yochanan 'God is great' in Hebrew, and is one of the most common names in all of the Western World. Here is how the name appears in various languages:

John (?), n. [See Johannes.]

A proper name of a man.

John-apple, a sort of apple ripe about St. John's Day. Same as Apple-john. -- John Bull, an ideal personification of the typical characteristics of an Englishman, or of the English people. -- John Bullism, English character. W. Irving. -- John Doe Law, the name formerly given to the fictitious plaintiff in an action of ejectment. Mozley & W. -- John Doree, John Dory. [John (or F. jaune yellow) + Doree, Dory.] Zool. An oval, compressed, European food fish (Zeus faber). Its color is yellow and olive, with golden, silvery, and blue reflections. It has a round dark spot on each side. Called also dory, doree, and St. Peter's fish.

© Webster 1913.