John's gospel has always been recognized as different from the other three. What makes it different? According to tradition, Jesus on the cross entrusted his mother, Mary, to John. She was taken into his household, and they lived together for about thirty years, eventually moving to Ephesus together. During that time, John was preaching and finding ways to represent the life of Jesus to others. Would his conversations with Mary about Jesus have had any influence on him?
In this book, Michael Pakaluk, a philosopher and classical scholar at The Catholic University of America, explores the fresh and startling thesis that Mary's 'voice' can be heard throughout John's gospel, in the incidents that were chosen, in the way they were presented, and in the themes that become prominent. Drawing on the Christian feminism of Edith Stein, among others, he discerns in the gospel of John a presentation of the life of Christ richly shaped by Mary's point of view as virgin, mother, daughter of God, and spouse.
Pakaluk develops his argument through interpretive essays and notes, keyed to a beautiful and fresh translation, which will be appreciated and lauded as much as his translation of Mark's gospel in The Memoirs of St Peter.
