AUTHOR
AUTHOR
It is commonly held that the fourth gospel does not bear its author’s name: like the synoptics, it is formally anonymous. As far as we can prove, the title "According to John” was attached to it as soon as the four canonical gospels began to circulate together as "the fourfold gospel,” in part, no doubt, to distinguish it from the rest of the collection; but it may have served as the title from the beginning (see chap. 2 above, on Matthew). But even if the attribution "According to John” was added two or three decades after the book was published, the observation of Bruce is suggestive: "It is noteworthy that, while the four canonical Gospels could afford to be published anonymously, the apocryphal Gospels which began to appear from the mid-second century onwards claimed (falsely) to be written by apostles or other persons associated with the Lord.” 7