Resumen
Resumen de The Questions of John
Para quién es
For readers who love early Christian writings, the history of medieval dualist movements, and unusual retellings of Genesis.
De qué trata este libro
The Questions of John, in Latin Interrogatio Iohannis, is an anonymous religious text that presents itself as a private conversation. John, the disciple who leaned on the breast of Jesus at the Last Supper, asks the Lord about the things that lie behind the world. He asks where evil came from, how the visible world was made, and what will happen at the end of time. The Lord answers him in turn.
Scholars link it to the Bogomils, a dualist Christian movement in Bulgaria in the tenth century and later, and to the Cathars of southern France and northern Italy. It survives in Latin in two main forms, and the Latin was most likely made from a Greek or Old Church Slavonic original. Let us begin with the setting and the form of the book.
En este resumen
- 1A private teaching at the Last SupperFree
- 2Satan falls from the heavens of the Father
- 3Satan fashions the visible world and the body
- 4Two kingdoms of light and shadow
- 5Christ comes and the old order is read anew
- 6The end of days and how the text survived
Idea clave 1 de 6
A private teaching at the Last Supper
The text opens at the table of the Last Supper. John, called the beloved disciple, rests on the breast of Jesus, as the Gospel of John also describes. Here the author uses the same scene to give John a larger set of questions.
The form is a simple dialogue. John asks, and the Lord answers at length. John wants to know how the devil fell, how the world came to be, and what will happen to souls. Because the setting is secret, the answers claim a special authority. They are meant for those who count themselves taught by the apostle himself.
This kind of writing has a long history. Many early Christian texts place hidden teaching in the mouth of an apostle or of the risen Jesus. Examples include the Apocryphon of John, which is a different and older work. The Questions of John should not be confused with it, though both attribute teaching to the same disciple. The Questions is much later and belongs to a medieval setting.
No author is named, and scholars do not know who put the text together. The apostle's name serves as a seal of trust. For a community that believed the church of Rome had lost the true teaching, a book from the Last Supper offered an older source. That helps explain why the text was copied and carried over great distances.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about The Questions of John
What is the Questions of John about?
It is a dialogue in which John asks Jesus at the Last Supper about the fall of Satan, how the visible world was made, the two kingdoms of light and shadow, and the judgment at the end of time.
Is the Interrogatio Iohannis the same as the Secret Supper?
Yes. Interrogatio Iohannis is the Latin title and Secret Supper is the other name used for it. The names point to the private teaching given at the Last Supper.
Who wrote the Secret Supper and when?
The author is unknown. Scholars link it to the Bogomils of Bulgaria and place the original between the tenth and twelfth centuries. It survives in Latin versions used by the Cathars.
Why is the Questions of John not in the Bible?
It was written long after the New Testament was settled. Its teaching that Satan made the visible world conflicted with the doctrine of the churches, which rejected it.
Is the Questions of John the same as the Apocryphon of John?
No. The Apocryphon of John is an older Gnostic text from the early centuries. The Questions of John is a medieval work tied to dualist groups, though both name John as the one taught.