Current Approaches to the Priority of John

Traditionally the Fourth Gospel is thought to offer little valuable or independent information about the earliest traditions about Jesus, primarily because of misconceptions or overstatements about John’s nature and its relationship to the Synoptic Gospels. However, in recent years John has been getting a fresh look as an early and independent narrative about Jesus. This essay examines modern approaches to the priority of John, a term which includes approaches that value John as a historical document and/or an independent witness to early Jesus traditions.