This is the second of 2 great books I received from Hendrickson. It has been a busy summer (hence the lack of blogging) but I want to blurb this book and 2 new books I recently received from IVP as well. So here goes:

Johannine Discipleship as a Covenant Relationship
Rekha M. Chennattu
Hendrickson, 2006
256 pages
Purchase from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

Here is the TOC:
1. An Introduction to the Discipleship Motif
2. The Old Testament Covenant Motif and John 13-17
3. Discipleship and Covenant in John 13-17
4. Covenant-Discipleship Motifs in John 20-21
5. The Covenant-Discipleship Motif and the Johannine Community
The book includes an excellent bibliography as well as author, subject, and ancient text indexes.

From the back:
“Working on the literary, theological, and historical levels, Rekha Chennattu has produced a remarkably fine example of modern Gospel study. Her apprach has produced a remarkably fine example of modern Gospel study. Her approach to biblical theology—embracing close readings of the Johannine discipleship texts, the biblical motif of covenant, Johannine theology in general, and the historical situation of the Johannine community—is a model of how this discipline can be carried out effectively and fruitfully. Her scholarly study of discipleship in John’s Gospel has important implications for understanding Christian life today.” — Daniel J. Harrington

“This book is a masterful fusion of the historical-critical method and narrative criticism. Exegesis of the discipleship narratives and discourses in the Fourth Gospel is combined with an analysis of the Old Testament covenant motifs behind its concept of discipleship and of the function and relevance of the discipleship paradigm for the Johannine community. It makes a major original contribution to Johannine scholarship and may well serve as a model for future New Testament Studies.” — Francis T. Gignac

The book also contains a fine foreward by Francis J. Moloney

There is also a fine review of this book available here, which points out the strengths and weaknesses of the book.

For my part, I enjoyed poking through this book and jotted down some notes in my Accordance notes, its exegesis of the passages in question are illuminating. The discussion of covenant motif is also very good. It is worth being on the shelf of any Johannine scholar.