Wisdom Christology in the Gospel of John

“Dustin Smith makes accessible to the non-specialist readers the rich interplay between the Gospel of John and Jewish Wisdom literature. Drawing on the canonical books and intertestamental texts, the figure of Lady Wisdom is shown to be a major lens through which Jesus is portrayed in this Gospel. Smith’s excellent study hopefully opens up the Wisdom literature as an essential part of late second-Temple Jewish theology, and therefore a necessary part of the world of the first believers and evangelists.”


—Mary Coloe, professor emerita of New Testament, University of Divinity, Melbourne





“Is the portrayal of Jesus in the Gospel of John shaped by Jewish Wisdom theology? You may not agree with every claim made in this thorough and methodical investigation, but it’s hard to resist Dustin Smith’s overall thesis that John’s account of Jesus’ career retraces the story of the sending of personified divine Wisdom into the world. His book is an excellent entry point to this field of study.”


—Andrew Perriman, associate research fellow, London School of Theology





“The Jewish tradition of personifying God’s Wisdom is one of the key backgrounds to the portrait of Jesus in the Gospel of John, and one that today’s readers are liable to miss. Dustin Smith helpfully brings the background material in the Jewish scriptures and Christian writings together with an exploration of this theme in the Gospel of John itself. The result is a very useful resource that will provide those who read the Gospel in conjunction with it a richer understanding of its Christology and of its narrative as a whole.”


—James F. McGrath, chair in New Testament language and literature, Butler University