John Ashton – författare

Is historical criticism of the New Testament dead? In this telling collection of eight new studies on John's Gospel, John Ashton argues that this is very far from the case. Challenging the assumptions of methodologies which ignore the historical context in which the Gospel was composed, the author offers a spirited defence of historical criticism and provides practical demonstration of the many new insights which it has still to yield.The first two chapters treat in greater depth two key themes (the Prologue of John and the Jews) which appeared in the author's Understanding the Fourth Gospel (Clarendon Paperbacks, 1993). A third chapter is intended to supplement and correct this larger work. The rest of the book explores further facets of the Gospel, and at the same time exposes some of the serious theoretical weaknesses in much recent writing on the Gospel.

Is historical criticism of the New Testament dead? In this telling collection of eight new essays on John's Gospel, John Ashton argues that this is very far from the case. Challenging the assumptions of methodologies which ignore the historical context in which the Gospel was composed, the author offers a spirited defence of historical criticism and provides practical demonstration of the many new insights which it has still to yield. The first two chapters treat in greater depth two key themes, the Prologue of John and the Jews, which appeared in the author's Understanding the Fourth Gospel (Clarendon Paperbacks, 1993). A third chapter is intended to supplement and correct this larger work. The rest of the book explores some of the serious theoretical weaknesses in much recent writing on the Gospel and makes some alternative proposals.

Public health issues are rarely out of the news. The 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Grenfell Tower fire, new designer drugs, outbreaks of Ebola, and links between social media and mental health, occupy our thoughts and our screens. However, awareness of these events as public health issues is a recent phenomenon; for many years after the Second World War, the history of the field was eclipsed by advances in clinical science and patient care. In Practising Public Health: An Eyewitness Account, John Ashton sets the record straight. The former Regional Director of Public Health in the North West of England, and co-founder of the WHO Healthy Cities Project, shares his adventures and experiences as a leader in public health at a time of unprecedented change and challenge. He presents case studies from the frontline of public health, and tells stories that are now part of modern history. Fighting for a better public health at community, national, and international levels, John shows us how public engagement and partnership goes hand in hand with political action. The stories in this book illustrate the importance of using your imagination, challenging the status quo, and thinking on your feet when initiating change. John also reveals the thinking behind his renowned hands-on approach to public health, and explains why he insists on bridging the gap between theory and practice. Practising Public Health connects the work of nineteenth century public health giants to that of today's twenty first century pioneers, taking time to reflect over, dissect and highlight the events, decisions and people involved in its development. With case studies and story-telling, this book is ideal for undergraduate and postgraduate public health courses worldwide. It is also of high value to other health professional groups such as nurses and health visitors, social workers and community development activists, as well as politicians and policy makers.

In this fully revised new edition of a pioneering study of John's gospel, John Ashton explores fresh topics and takes account of the latest scholarly debates. Ashton argues first that the thought-world of the gospel is Jewish, not Greek, and secondly that the text is many-layered, not simple, and composed over an extended period as the evangelist responded to the changing situation of the community he was addressing. Ashton seeks to provide new and coherent answers to what Rudolf Bultmann called the two great riddles of the gospel: its position in the development of Christian thought and its central or governing idea. In arguing that the first of these should be concerned rather with Jewish thought Ashton offers a partial answer to the most important and fascinating of all the questions confronted by New Testament scholarship: how did Christianity emerge from Judaism? Bultmann's second riddle is exegetical, and concerns the message of the book. Ashton's answer highlights a generally neglected feature of the gospel's concept of revelation: its debt to Jewish apocalyptic.

In this fully revised new edition of a pioneering study of John's gospel, John Ashton explores fresh topics and takes account of the latest scholarly debates. Ashton argues first that the thought-world of the gospel is Jewish, not Greek, and secondly that the text is many-layered, not simple, and composed over an extended period as the evangelist responded to the changing situation of the community he was addressing. Ashton seeks to provide new and coherent answers to what Rudolf Bultmann called the two great riddles of the gospel: its position in the development of Christian thought and its central or governing idea. In arguing that the first of these should be concerned rather with Jewish thought Ashton offers a partial answer to the most important and fascinating of all the questions confronted by New Testament scholarship: how did Christianity emerge from Judaism? Bultmann's second riddle is exegetical, and concerns the message of the book. Ashton's answer highlights a generally neglected feature of the gospel's concept of revelation: its debt to Jewish apocalyptic.

Paul the Apostle has traditionally been viewed as a thinker and theologian, and scholars have focused almost exclusively on his ideas rather than on his religious experience. In this book, a leading New Testament scholar challenges this view of Paul. John Ashton demonstrates how closely Paul’s own career resembles that of a typical shaman, and he shows how every important aspect of Paul’s life and ministry may be illuminated by focusing on his experience.Drawing not only on Paul’s letters but also on contemporary writings in the Jewish and Hellenistic worlds, Ashton discusses a number of important issues relevant to the understanding of Paul and to the origins of Christianity: whether Paul is properly described as a convert, a mystic, an apostle, a prophet, or a charismatic; what his attitude was to the Jewish traditions he inherited; why he felt called upon to preach, not to his fellow Jews, but to the Gentiles; what accounts for the remarkable success of his strange new Gospel; and how we can explain his language of spirit-possession (“Christ lives in me”). In addressing these issues, Ashton demonstrates that to regard Christianity simply as a religion of the word is to ignore a vital truth about its origins.

A textbook collection of the classic modern essays on John from Bultmann to Moore.