ST. CATHARINES CONCORDIA - Brock University

46 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
As he examines each citation in turn, Schuchard considers its Johanriine context,
parallcl trcatmcnts of similar subjects, parallel references to thc same Old Tcstameilt
passage, and the identifying formula. He moves on to investigate the Old Testament
passage cited, the form of the citation (does it rellect the Hebrew? Old Greek [OG]?~OS
somc othcr sourcc?), and thc hypotheses of other scholars with respect to the textual
foi-m. He then offers his opinion as to which hypothesis seems to have the greatest
merit. He concludes by suggesting how the form of the citation reflects "the rolc that
John as editor would have this citation play in the context in which he places it" (p.
xvi).
Schuchard acknowledges his indcbtcdness to M.J.J. Mcnkcn, particularly in the
methodological scheme he has adopted. Menken, however, in his various studies, has
dealt with only hall'of the citations, and Schuchardnntinfrequenlly arrives at different
conclusions.
SCHUCHARD'S CONCLUSIONS
What was John's Vorlage? Schuchard concludes that the evangelist used one and
only one textual tradition, the Old Greek (OG) which he Srequenlly modified or
redacted in keeping with procedures well-established in first-century Judaism. This
means that John might import into his citation materials from the immediate context
of the Old Testament passage cited, or Srom analogous con~exts.~ Although the
evidence would indicate that John kncw of thc Aramaic and Hebrew Scriptures of the
Jews, he consistently cited the OG because that was the Old Testanlent of his audience.
Why does .lohn cite the Old Testament? Schuchartl states that the citations
"consistently touch on the identity of Jesus and assert that the details of Jesus' life and
especially his death on the cross fulfil1 Scripture" (p. 154). "Thus, John employs Old
Testament citations as discrete, concrete illustrations of his Gospel's largcr scheme to
convey John's conviction that the entire Old Testament testifies to Jesus (5.39,45-46).
Jesus, therefore, has fulSilled all of Scripture and is himsell its ultimate signil'icance"
(p. 156).
AN EVALUATION
There can be little argument when Schuchard concludes that "John has carefully
adapted his citations consistently to their eventual literary and theological context" (p.
152). This concurs with earlier study that "the corm is always apprupt-iate to its
Gospel context" (LTR I:l, p. 49; cmphasis original). What may be questioned is his
festal g~eeting derived from PS. 118.
2 Schuchard uses OG (Old Greek) rather than LXX to "refer to the first Greek translation of the Bible" (p. xvii.
11.28). In this he folluws L. Greenspoon, "The Use and Abuse of the Term 'LXX' and Related Terminology in
Recent Scholarship," Bulletin of the Irztcrnntional Orgatzization for Septuagint and Cogrrattr Stuiires 20 (1987):
21-29.
1 Therc is evidence which ~uggcsts that Jcsns cngagcd in thc same procedure when I le imported a line frnm Ts.
5X:h into His synagogue reading of Is. hl: l F. (Luke 4:lX)