Qumran and the Origins of Johannine Language and Symbolism

Elizabeth Mburu sets out to demonstrate that the sectarian Qumran document The Rule of the Community, provides linguistic clues which illuminate our understanding of how the author of the Fourth Gospel used truth terminology and expected it to be understood.

Mburu starts her discussion with an overview of the study of truth terminology and its use in the history of interpretation of the Gospel of John. She follows this with a survey of Qumran and New Testament research and a discussion of core methodological considerations. Mburu also offers a detailed exegetical survey of `truth' and lists all the instances of its occurence in both the Gospel and The Rule. This is followed by an examination of the background to the Gospel of John, including the possible impact of The Rule upon it, which Mburu supports with linguistic evidence. Mburu concludes that there is a strong likelihood that the author of the Fourth Gospel was familiar with the mode of thought represented in the linguistic atmosphere of the Qumran literature.

Elizabeth Mburu (Ph.D. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is an adjunct professor of Bible and Religion at Montreat College in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.