Biblica_1:Layout 1 21-11-2011 12:59 Pagina 369 369 JOHN 5,31-47 AND THE TEACHING OF JESUS IN THE SYNOPTICS ticity are prone to employ arguments based on vast differences be- tween John and the Synoptics in order to substantiate their view 3. Generally speaking, no major contribution to the debate about the authenticity of the Johannine discourses that does not appeal — at least to a certain extent — to a comparison between the Fourth Gospel and its synoptic counterparts appears to exist. Yet, a thorough comparison between the portrait of Jesus’ words in John and in the Synoptics in light of the larger question of the authenticity of the Fourth Gospel has been a desideratum of Johannine scholarship. In other words, while critics of Johannine authenticity have repeatedly reverted to arguments emphasizing the supposedly vast differences between the Johannine discourses and the synoptic teaching of Jesus, surprisingly, no sustainable attempt has been put forward to prove or disprove this particular claim on the basis of an extensive review of the data. Already in his 1967 essay entitled “The Portrait of Jesus in John and in the Synoptics”, C.H. Dodd called for a broad analysis of the Fourth Gospel 4 that anticipated the comparative approach we are about to summarize in this article – an approach that has been de- veloped and applied more fully elsewhere 5. Already in Dodd’s ear- lier influential works, Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel and Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel, he appears convinced that the answer to the question of whether the Johannine Jesus was a credible historical figure could only be answered by scrutinizing the Fourth Gospel in comparison with its synoptic counterparts: “[I do not] at present see any way of identifying further traditional material 3 Among those pronouncedly skeptical regarding the authenticity of the Johannine discourses cf., e.g., the Jesus Seminar in The Five Gospels. The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus (eds. R.W. FUNK – R.W. HOOVER) (New York, NY 1996) 2-34, esp. 9-13; M. CASEY, Is John’s Gospel True? (Lon- don 1996) e.g. 30-62, 80-81. One of the moderately skeptical scholars using this argument is J.D.G. DUNN, The Evidence for Jesus (Louisville, KY 1985) 31-32; also ID., Jesus Remembered, 166-167. 4 C.H. DODD, “The Portrait of Jesus in John and in the Synoptics”, Chris- tian History and Interpretation. Studies Presented to John Knox (eds. W.R. FARMER et al.) (Cambridge 1967) 183-198. 5 Cf. Ph.F. BARTHOLOMÄ, The Johannine Discourses and the Teaching of Jesus in the Synoptics. A Comparative Approach to the Authenticity of Jesus’ Words in the Fourth Gospel (Ph.D. Diss., Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven 2010). For an extensive review of the literature regarding the authen- ticity of the Johannine discourses, showing the significance of Johannine-Syn- optic relations for the authenticity debate, cf. ibid., 9-46.