Editing Gospel of John (section)

===Composition===
The Gospel of John, like all the gospels, is anonymous.{{sfn|O'Day|1998|p=381}} John 21:22<ref>{{bibleverse|John|21:22}}</ref> references a [[disciple whom Jesus loved]] and John 21:24–25<ref>{{bibleverse|John|21:24–25}}</ref> says: "This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true".{{sfn|Reddish|2011|p=41}} Early Christian tradition, first found in [[Irenaeus]] ({{circa|130|202}} AD), identified this disciple with [[John the Apostle]], but most scholars have abandoned this hypothesis or hold it only tenuously;{{sfn|Lindars|Edwards|Court|2000|p=41}} there are multiple reasons for this conclusion, including, for example, the fact that the gospel is written in good Greek and displays sophisticated theology, and is therefore unlikely to have been the work of a simple fisherman.{{sfn|Kelly|2012|p=115}} 
It is also unclear whether the beloved disciple is said to be the author of the gospel<ref name="Harris John">[[Stephen L Harris|Harris, Stephen L.]], ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "John" pp. 302–10</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Jesus Handbook |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2022 |isbn=9780802876928 |pages=234}}</ref>      or if the author is claiming to be someone else recording the disciple’s testimony.<ref>{{cite book |last= Rodriguez | first= Rafael |title= Jesus Darkly: Remembering Jesus in the New Testament |publisher= Abingdon Press |page= 177 |isbn= 9781501839115}}</ref>{{efn|Reddish says these verses imply that the core of the gospel relies on the testimony (perhaps written) of the "disciple who is testifying", as collected, preserved, and reshaped by a community of followers (the "we" of the passage), and that a single follower (the "I") rearranged this material and perhaps added the final chapter and other passages to produce the final gospel. He acknowledges that this scenario could be a forced or simplistic understanding of the text.{{sfn|Reddish|2011|p=41}}}} There is a consensus among Johannine scholars that the beloved disciple was a real historical person,<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Uitgeverij Peeters|year=1991|isbn=9789061864530|first=Frans|last=Neirynck|title=Evangelica II: 1982-1991 : Collected Essays}}</ref> but there is no consensus on who the beloved disciple was.<ref>{{cite book|quote=but there is no consensus as to the Beloved Disciple's actual identity|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Gnostic Gospels|first=J. Michael|last=Matkin|year=2005|isbn=9781440696510|publisher=Penguin}}</ref> Most scholars estimate the final form of the text to be around AD 90–110.{{sfn|Lincoln|2005|p=18}} The Gospel was likely composed in Ephesus, as both second century Christians and the majority of modern scholars say.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Paul |title=John, Jesus, and History Volume 4 |publisher=SBL Press |year=2024 |isbn=9781628376074 |pages=2}}</ref>

The author may have drawn on a "signs source" (a collection of miracles) for chapters 1–12, a "passion source" for the story of Jesus's arrest and crucifixion, and a "sayings source" for the discourses, but these hypotheses are much debated,{{sfn|Reddish|2011|pp=187–188}} and recent scholarship has tended to turn against positing hypothetical sources for John.<ref>{{cite book |last= Keith |first= Chris |year= 2020 |title= The Gospel as Manuscript: An Early History of the Jesus Tradition as Material Artifact |publisher= Oxford University Press |page= 142 |isbn= 978-0199384372}}</ref> While a few scholars support old ideas about pre-gospel sources or develop new theories, it is widely considered that John incorporated Synoptic traditions with its own in its composition.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Jesus Handbook |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2022 |isbn=9780802876928 |pages=236}}</ref> The author seems to have known some version of Mark and Luke, as John shares with them some vocabulary and clusters of incidents arranged in the same order,{{sfn|Lincoln|2005|pp=29–30}}{{sfn|Fredriksen|2008|p=unpaginated}} but key terms from those gospels are absent or nearly so, implying that if the author did know them they felt free to write independently.{{sfn|Fredriksen|2008|p=unpaginated}} The Hebrew scriptures were an important source,{{sfn|Valantasis|Bleyle|Haugh|2009|p=14}} with 14 direct quotations (versus 27 in Mark, 54 in Matthew, 24 in Luke), and their influence is vastly increased when allusions and echoes are included,{{sfn|Yu Chui Siang Lau|2010|p=159}} but the majority of John's direct quotations do not agree exactly with any known version of the Jewish scriptures.{{sfn|Menken|1996|pp=11–13}} While the author might claim to be an eyewitness in John 21, most scholars view it as a later addition, though a growing minority view it as part of the earliest text.{{sfn|Keith|2020|pp=132,155}} Recent arguments by [[Richard Bauckham]] and others that John preserves eyewitness testimony have not won general acceptance.{{sfn|Eve|2016|p=135}}{{sfn|Porter|Fay|2018|p=41}}  Tom Thatcher argues that while the beloved disciple did not write the current form of the gospel, this does not entail reconstructions that put the author multiple stages or generations away from the disciple. Instead, he argues that the Fourth Evangelist was a companion of the beloved disciple who was either an amanuensis or used an earlier source attributed to the disciple shortly after his death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thatcher |first=Tom |title=The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0198739982 |pages=98}}</ref>