Gospel of John - Volume One

This is the only narrative ever written about Jesus by actual eyewitnesses: the Beloved Disciple, Jesus's wife Mary, and the gifted scholar-author John the Presbyter. It is also one of the world's greatest works of literature, modelled on classical Greek theatre and philosophy, but soaring above them in its own new genre. It was itself less successfully imitated later. The original work was never completed before the author was arrestedand sent into exile. For safekeeping, his friends sent the unfinished manuscript to far-away Pontus. But, even there, the hand of Rome nearly destroyed it. A foolish young man named Marcion rescued it, and had the sense to put it into the hands of the Presbyter's spiritual heirs, and they published it. While the manuscript languished in Pontus some pages got lost or disordered. And after publication various editors changed the manuscript again and again to suit the changing doctrines of the newly established Christian religion, even adding spurious new material. Simply put, the gospel as we have it today is a mess: a beautiful and inspiring mess, but a mess nonetheless. This translation undoes the damage to restore -- not the unfinished original text, but the masterpiece John the Presbyter sought to compose. By so doing we gain a sharply drawn first-hand account of Jesus. Here we encounter a vividly real man sent by God to urge humanity to accept God's will. He is described in a narrative set down before creeds and doctrines repackaged him as an incarnate deity. For a world that has replaced truth with lies, spirituality with commerce, and wisdom with hatred, this work gives us undiluted the sacred wisdom shared with us by a man many call the greatest who ever lived. Volume One contains the carefully restored text in English and Greek, and a history of how the gospel was written, nearly lost to the world several times, and finally published. Volume Two includes detailed commentaries that burnish this masterpiece for the modern reader.