Item — HN Reader

The Gospel of John.

A palpable sense of mystery is maintained from start to finish, but it arguably does better than any other book in the Bible at giving a deep look into the person of Jesus as he was seen and believed in by the early church. Additionally, there is a subtle sense of humor as the gospel author clearly enjoyed language and word plays and describes multiple misunderstandings that occur because of the ambiguity of language.

Probably more than any other book, this book has shaped me on a personal level.

(If you're going to read it, I highly recommend a modern translation such as the ESV, NKJV, or HCSB.)

3 comments

It's also notable for Jesus's consistent affirmation of his own divinity. Not that the synoptics don't, but John is much more explicit about it. For me, that does much to validate CS Lewis's liar, lunatic, or Lord argument.

Yep John 17: The high priestly prayer.

Two follow ups that would appeal to the HN crowd: Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About [1] and 3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated [2], both by Donald Knuth.

[1] https://cs.stanford.edu/~uno/things.html

[2] https://cs.stanford.edu/~uno/316.html

316 is a beautiful book.

Logos! "In the beginning was the word" can be understood information theoretically. It's almost as though John is telling us that information or knowledge is ontologically primary, rather than matter. And it is "the word", not "the DWORD" ;)