THE GOSPEL OF JOHN Original Version - Volume I

The only narrative about Jesus by eyewitnesses, this is also one of the world’s greatest literary works. The unfinished text was spirited off to Sinope when the author was sent into exile. Even there the hand of Rome nearly destroyed it. Rescued 35 years later, the author’s spiritual heirs published it. While in Sinope some pages got lost or disordered. After publication various editors changed the manuscript repeatedly to suit the changing doctrines of early Christianity, even adding spurious new material. Thus the standard text is an inspiring mess, but still a mess. This translation restores not the unfinished original text, but the masterpiece the author sought to compose: a first-hand account of a real man sent to urge humanity to accept God’s will, set down before doctrine repackaged him as an incarnate deity. Volume One contains the carefully restored text and a history of the gospel. Volume Two includes commentaries that burnish this masterpiece for the modern reader.