Example of an Annotated Bibliography

I have placed the authors in alphabetical order. You may place the works in order of publication if you choose. You may follow MLA or APA standards for bibliographic format. The important thing is that you follow a standard format and that all important data is present. Do not simply cut and paste the citations from ATLA into your bibliography.

Topic: The Beloved Disciple in the Gospel of John

Bauckham, Richard. "The Beloved Disciple as Ideal Author." Journal for the Study of the New Testament 49 (1993) 21-44.

Bauckham argues against Martin Hengel's conclusion that the BD the author of the Gospel and all three letters is John the Elder who may be John the son of Zebedee. Bauchkham argues that the author is clearly identified at the end of the gospel as John the elder and is presented not as an ideal as in an idea of a disciple but as the ideally qualified author.

 

Charlesworth, James H. The Beloved Disciple. Valley Forge, Pa: Trinity Press International, 1995.

In this 481 page book, Charlesworth reviews the arguments for 22 different possible identities for the BD and rules them out one by one and ends with the surprising argument that the BD is Thomas. His main argument is that Thomas' request that he touch the wounds of Jesus indicates that he witnessed Jesus' receiving the wounds.

Collins, Raymond F. "From John to the Beloved Disciple : An Essay on Johannine Characters" Interpretation 49 (1995) 359-369.

Collins examines the various roles that secondary characters play in the Gospel. All are subordinate to Jesus in some way. He argues that the Beloved disciples is characterized as the epitome of discipleship and stands in contrast with Simon Peter.

Dewey, Arthur J. "The Eyewitness of History: Vistionary Consciousness in the Fourth Gospel." In Jesus in the Johannine Tradition. Robert Fortna and Tom Thatcher, editors. Louisville; London; Leiden: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. Pp. 59-70.

Dewey affirms that the BD is intended to be an eye-witness to history but explores the difference between what that would mean in the first century and what it means now. The article is written to explain and support his last sentence: "For the first century, this was tantamount to declaring that consciousness could be visionary and that historical interest was found precisely in that creative chemistry of remembrance."

Grassi, Joseph A. The Secret Identity of the Beloved Disciple. Mahwah, NJ : Paulist Press, 1992.

Grassi argues that the characterization of the relationship between the BD and Jesus is modeled on the story of Joseph and Jacob in Genesis. He argues that the BD is part of Jesus ministry from its beginning and his witness is extremely important to the authority of the gospel, but he comes to no conclusion about who the BD was.

Kaufman, Philip S. The Beloved Disciple: Witness against Anti-Semitism Publisher: Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press, 1991.

Kaufman argues that the witness of the BD to the passion is more historical and less anti-Semitic than Matthew and Mark. He points to the absence of a trial before the Sanhedrin, the lack of mockeries at the cross, and the specific reference to Roman soldiers at the cross important.

Lincoln, Andrew. "The Beloved Disciple as Eyewitness and the Fourth Gospel as Witness." Journal for the Study of the New Testament 85 (2002) 3-26.

Lincoln concludes that the BD is not intended to represent an actual witness but is a literary device that allows the author to juxtapose literal and metaphorical language of seeing and believing.

Minear, Paul S. "The Beloved Disciple in the Gospel of John: Some Clues and Conjectures." Novum Testamentum 19 (1977) 105-123.

Minear pursues a number of conjectures but argues that the intent of the author was to be clear about the identity of the BD . We have lost the cues to matching his textual hints to an actual person. The author also intentionally does not name Jesus' mother, but we know her name.

 

Reinhartz, Adele. Befriending the Beloved Disciple. New York; London: Continuum, 2001.

Reinhartz adopts four different reading strategies to deal with the anti-Jewish statements that the BD puts in Jesus' mouth. She comes at it as a compliant reader, a resistant reader, a sympathetic reader and an engaged reader.

 

Schneiders, Sandra M. "'Because of the Woman's Testimony . . .': Reexamining the Issue of Authorship in the Fourth Gospel." New Testament Studies 44 (1998) 513-535.

Schneiders makes the case for lining up the textual evidence for the BD's identity with Mary Magdalene. There sensitivity of the author for matters related to women. I would say more but a student borrowed an did not return my copy of this article.

Quast, Kevin. Peter and the Beloved Disciple: Figures for a Community in Crisis. JSNTSup 32; Sheffield: JSOT, 1989.

Quast argues that the BD is the historical witness to Jesus ministry and that his characterization makes him a complement to Simon Peter rather than a rival. He argues that the characterization is presented as a model of faith to emulate while Peter remains a figure of apostolic authority.

Synthesis and Analysis

The articles and books on this bibliography can be separated into two groups, those focused upon the identity and characterization of the Beloved Disciple and those that discuss what the Beloved Disciple was trying to accomplish. A reader of the second type of writing must first determine how the author is asking the question of identity. These authors seem to jump to a conclusion about the BD's identity or construct an identity and then work from there.

In the first category of literature we can see a major shift beginning to happen about the time that Martin Hengel publishes his book. Earlier articles like Paul Minear's a focus upon trying to match the textual evidence in the Gospel with a particular known identity, that of John son of Zebedee. It seem the later the work pursuing this question the more radical the choice of identity: Charlesworth puts forward Thomas as a candidate and Schneider offers Mary Magdalene. After Hengel, authors begin to ask more questions about how the identity of the BD is constructed as a literary character and to what end. Most authors seem to focus upon the competition between the BD and Simon Peter and conclude that the BD is the superior disciple. This discussion seems to be subordinate to a major current in Johannine scholarship that tries to locate the gospel within a sectarian community that has rejected the authority of Simon Peter. Dewey may represent another development in the discussion as he brings to bear a greater sensitivity to the conventions of composition that guided authors in the first century.

In the 1990's the question of the Jewish identity of the author or BD shifts to his anti-Judaism. For example, Adele Reinhartz does not try to explain away or apologize for the anti-Jewish statements in the book but instead tries to find ways of gaining meaning without complying with the author's views. The prevailing assumption seems to be that the BD has begun to define himself over and against Judaism, but as a member of a marginalized minority who cannot harm their Jewish opponents.