This volume, which emerges from an SNTS seminar in 1985-1986, analyses
one of the best-known, but also one of the most intriguing, of Jesus'
discourses within the Fourth Gospel. Previous studies of the Shepherd
Discourse have concentrated either on its historical setting in the life
of Jesus (Simonis) or on the prehistory of its text (Bullmann and his
school). The present study, consisting of essays written by an
international team of specialists, adopts a more contextual approach.
The Shepherd Discourse is here situated in the text of the Fourth
Gospel, with particular emphasis on the preceding chapter and on the
subsequent Passion narrative. The internal coherence of John 10 so
becomes clearer, and it is seen that - in spite of its links with
Gnostic ideas - the roots of the Discourse in Old Testament and Jewish
texts about the shepherds of Israel become apparent.