For many years, exegetes have been speaking of the possibility that the Gospel of John might have had another façade. If such were the case, the actual prologue, John 1:1-18, would have been a later insertion. For all this exegetical analysis it is essential to focus on John 1:6-8(9).15. Since the XVIII century, biblical scholars have affirmed that the two statements regarding John the Baptist break the flow of the prologue of John. It was also conjectured that, perhaps, the first façade of the Fourth Gospel began with John 1:6ff.19-34. To my knowledge, there has been no research analysing the historical reasons behind the significant change at the beginning of this gospel. If the abovementioned hypothesis could be proved, then this change to the beginning of the Gospel of John would have catalyzed a change in the intended reader of this gospel. A change in the intended reader could imply, in turn, that there had been a change in the context of the Johannine Community.

SchmidtS_FinalThesis_PhD_Feb17