July 7, 2022
Poet, translator and cultural critic Anthony Esolen joins us on the podcast to talk about his book. In the beginning was the word: an annotated reading of the prologue to the Gospel of John.
In this lengthy meditation, Anthony Essolen examines, verse by verse, the majestic preface to the Gospel of John, which he calls “the most influential passage in human history.” He illuminates the theological richness of this preface by showing how the Apostle John had in mind not only the deeds and words of Jesus, but also the entire biblical testimony prior to Jesus’ time and the ways in which the young church preached Jesus. A unique feature of this remarkable work is the way Essolen (and we) “hear” the Hebrew/Aramaic preface. Foundational John’s Greek (not his native language) echoes those languages, and in one fell swoop, what we thought could never be expressed any more profoundly, erupts in new poetic brilliance. The full picture of God-man theology emerges more clearly than ever before. Esolen’s decades of immersion in Christian poetry and the Bible make him uniquely positioned as a guide to the surprising, life-changing “poem” of the Prologue. As he puts it well: “My hope is not only to clarify what John wants us to hear, but also to show that with regard to this poem, John was not the originator, but rather the beloved disciple who learned the custom from the Lord.” (Publisher’s description)
link
Anthony Esolen In the beginning there was the word
https://www.angelicopress.org/in-the-beginning-was-the-word-anthony-esolen
Esolen’s new newsletter, Words and Songs https://anthonyesolen.substack.com
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