The Prophet-King

Among modern analyses of the origin and development of John's Christology, the socio-religious analysis of Wayne A. Meeks advances one of the most compelling and suggestive theses in recent years, addressing the riddles pertaining to the puzzling presentation of Jesus as a prophet-king like Moses in John 6:14-15. Whereas the Logos motif of the Johannine Prologue and the Father-Son relationship in the Johannine narrative convey high-christological thrusts, his receptions as a rabbi, teacher, and prophet elsewhere in John's story of Jesus are far more mundane and earth bound. Was the origin and development of John's presentation of Jesus here political, historical, theological, sociological, or some combination of the like? These are the issues Wayne Meeks addresses in his first of several important monographs, and his work continues to impact New Testament studies to this day.
--From the Foreword by Paul N. Anderson


Critical scholarly acclaim:

""It is precisely this presentation of Jesus as a king and its associations with his presentation as prophet which is the central focus of Wayne Meeks' exhaustive study of the traditions concerning Moses and their influence on Johannine Christology.... Meeks finds the milieu of Johannine Christology to include a complex Jewish and Samaritan tradition, probably centered in Galilee, concerning the figure of Moses.""
--Robert Kysar, Bandy Professor of Preaching and New Testament Interpretation Emeritus, Candler School of Theology, Emory University


""Rare in scholarship is a consummate magnum opus that continues to influence the field fifty years after it was published--let alone a scholar's dissertation! Anyone who investigates the Christology of John, characterization in John, Moses in the New Testament, or the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament must engage Meeks' Prophet-King. How gratifying that new generations of biblical scholars will now have ready access to this classic work.""
--Jaime Clark-Soles, Professor of New Testament and Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor, Perkins School of Theology


Wayne A. Meeks is the Woolsey Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Yale University. He has served as president of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas and is a fellow of the British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.