Description: 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.
Brief description: 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'.