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Comment by mikepurvis | Hacker News Reader

John is much more philosophical in nature rather than narrative. It’s also written later so the author is explicitly trying to emphasize elements that aren’t a priority to the others, for example about the nature of God and Jesus and the relationship between them and the people/church.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gospel-According-to-John

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A good way of illustrating this is that John doesn’t even attempt a nativity story. He starts “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Yeah exactly, it was already covered twice before, by Matthew (where the wisemen visit) and Luke (where the shepherds visit). John’s emphasis is on Jesus as God rather than a son of young Jewish parents.

> John’s emphasis is on Jesus as God rather than a son of young Jewish parents.

Yep, but more specifically Jesus as the Logos, which is a core concept in Platonism and Stoicism.

John very clearly meant his gospel to be read by gentiles from a Greek background.

John to me as the youngest gospel, is an attempt to solidify what Christianity was becoming as it separated from the remains of Judaism after the destruction of the temple in year 70. It could have been written as late as 200 CE from what I have read. In my opinion that is why it diverges from the synoptic books. It had to address the new religion's theology more overtly as it had developed by then. Christianity was becoming popular quickly, once it became clear that pork chops were on the menu and surgery was no longer needed to join.

He didn't retell the nativity story because it didn't matter to the Greek speaking gentiles, instead he told them Jesus is the Logos (unfortunately translated as Word in English), which was already a core concept in Greek philosophy, especially Platonism and Stoicism.

The nativity was important for Jewish converts, partly because of descending from kind David (you'll notice the lengthy listings of ancestors in the synoptic gospels).

Pretty sure Luke was aimed at a gentile audience as well. Matthew is the one who tells the nativity story explicitly as a fulfilment of prophecy.

Mark, the first written Gospel, doesn't have a nativity story either.

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