This article considers the history of the transmission of the opening verses of the Fourth Gospel and the ways in which the text was divided or not divided into segments by commentators (e.g. Ptolemy, Heracleon, Irenaeus, Cyprian, Chrysostom, Augustine, Cyril, Philoxenus), liturgical systems and the scribes of early manuscripts (e.g. Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Georgian, Greek, Latin, Syriac). There is then investigation of the division of the text in the period of print from 1495 (the first printing of Jn 1.1-14) to the present. It is found that systems that regarded Jn 1.1-5, 1-14, or 1-17 as a unit preceded those that regarded 1.1-18 as a unit and that these earlier analyses each have distinct exegetical advantages over the common modern position of viewing 1.1-18 as a unit. The reasons for the currently preferred division and its exegetical consequences are explored with the conclusion that Jn 1.1-18 should not be regarded as the prologue of the Fourth Gospel.
Bamford, Christopher1990The Voice of the Eagle: Homily on the Prologue to the Gospel of St. John (Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Press).
2.
Barrett, C.K.1965The Gospel according to St John (London : SPCK, 1965).
3.
Bauckham, R.J.2006Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
4.
Bell, H. Idris, and T.C. Skeat, 1935Fragments of an Unknown Gospel and Other Early Christian Papyri (London: British Museum).
5.
Blake, Robert P., and Maurice Brière (eds.) 1950The Old Georgian Version of the Gospel of John: From the Adysh Gospels with the Variants of the Opiza and Tbet’ Gospels (Patrologia Orientalis, 26.4; Paris: Firmin-Didot ).
6.
Brooke, A.E.1896The Commentary of Origen on S. John’s Gospel, Vol. 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
7.
Brown, R.E.1966The Gospel according to John (i-xii) (AB;Garden City, NY; Doubleday).
8.
Bultmann, R.1971The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Oxford : Basil Blackwell).
9.
Burkitt, F.C.1923‘The Early Syriac Lectionary System’, Proceedings of the British Academy10: 301-39.
10.
Carson, D.A.1991The Gospel according to John (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
11.
Chabot, J.B.1897Theodori Mopsuesteni Commentarius in D. Johannis Evangelium in Libros VII Partitus, Tomus I: Textus Syriacus (Paris : Ernest Leroux).
12.
Haacke, Rhabanus1969Ruperti Tuitiensis Commentaria in Evangelium Sancti Iohannis (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, 9; Turnhout: Brepols ).
13.
Halleux, André de1977Philoxène de Mabbog: Commentaire du prologue johannique (Ms. Br. Mus. Add. 14,534) (CSCO, 380; Louvain: LouvainUniversity Press).
14.
Horner, G.1911-24The Coptic Version of the New Testament in the Southern Dialect, Otherwise Called Sahidic and Thebaic (7 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press).
15.
Hurst, D.1955Bedae Venerabilis Opera, Pars III Opera Homiletica; Pars IV Opera Rhythmica (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, 122; Turnhout: Brepols ).
16.
Janssen, R.1903Das Johannes-Evangelium nach der Paraphrase des Nonnus Panopolitanus ( Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs).
17.
Jeauneau, Edouard (ed.) 1969Homélie sur le prologue de Jean (Paris: Editions du Cerf).
18.
Khakhanov, A.S. and E.S. Taqaišvili, 1916Materialy po arkheologii Kavkaza 14 (Moscow).
19.
Leloir, L.1953Saint Éphrem, Commentaire de l’Évangile Concordant: Version Arménienne (CSCO, 137; Louvain: L. Durbecq ).
Lindars, Barnabas1972The Gospel of John (NCB;Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
23.
Marmadji, A.-S.1935Diatessaron de Tatien (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique).
24.
Metzger, Bruce M., and Bart D. Ehrman2005The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (4th edn; Oxford: Oxford University Press ).
25.
Pauly, Kannookadan1991The East Syrian Lectionary: An Historico-Liturgical Study (Rome: Mar Thoma Yogam).
26.
Petersen, William L.1994Tatian’s Diatessaron: Its Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and History in Scholarship (VigChrSup, 25; Leiden: Brill).
27.
Quecke, H.1984Das Johannesevangelium saïdisch: Text der Handschrift PPalau Rib. Inv. Nr. 183 mit den Varianten der Handschriften 813 und 814 der Chester Beatty Library und der Handschrift M 569 (Barcelona : Papyrologica Castroctaviana).
28.
Raya, Most Reverend Joseph, and Baron José de Vinck, 1969Byzantine Daily Worship, With Byzantine Breviary, the Three Liturgies, Propers of the Day and Various Offices (Allendale, NJ: Alleluia Press).
29.
Renoux, A.1969Le codex arménien Jérusalem 121. I. Introduction aux origines de la liturgie hiérosolymitaine: Lumières nouvelles (Patrologia Orientalis, 35.1; Turnhout: Brepols).
30.
1971Le codex arménien Jérusalem 121. II. Édition comparée du texte et de deux autres manuscrits: Introduction, textes, traduction et notes (Patrologia Orientalis, 36.2; Turnhout: Brepols).
31.
Schnackenburg, R.1980The Gospel according to St John, Vol. 1 ( Tunbridge Wells: Burns & Oates).
32.
Treu, Kurt1965‘Griechisch-Koptische Bilinguen des Neuen Testaments’, in Institut für Byzantinistik, Halle (ed.), Koptologische Studien in der DDR (Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg; Halle: Institut für Byzantinistik).
