Genre, “Apocalypse,” and the Gospel of John

Abstract

Comparing the Gospel of John with Jewish apocalypses requires some understanding of what an apocalypse is. This chapter discusses contemporary understandings of what genre is and how it is determined by readers and authors. Recent genre studies have shown that humans categorize things in relation to cognitive prototypes (i.e., how closely something relates to a prototypical example). The Semeia 14 definition of “apocalypse” functions as a prototype definition, especially with its underlying “master-paradigm.” The genre of apocalypse should not be determined only by eschatological content but also by its revelatory form, spatial content, and function. The Gospel of John has been noted to share some similarities with Jewish apocalypses, but the most methodologically sound way of comparing John’s apocalyptic characteristics is to compare the Fourth Gospel with the genre of apocalypse.