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A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

(Adapted from Fr. Herbert Schneider, S.J.’s “The Catholic Bible Study Workbook: A
Step-by-Step Guide to the Gospel of John”)

PART ONE: SURVEY STUDY (to be done individually)

AIM | 1. To get an overview of the general content and structure of the entire Gospel of
John. 2. To learn how to construct a book chart for overview study. 3. To acquire a basic
understanding of the literary and historical background to John’s Gospel.

ORIENTATION | Many times, we fail to see the big picture because we are caught up
in the minute details—we can’t see the forest because of the trees. This is why we need to
do an overview or a survey of the Gospel of John before we get into more detailed study.
With an overview study, we begin to grasp John’s Gospel as a whole; we are able to
observe the general content and structure, get a feel for the overall organization of the
Gospel, and see how it all fits together. In doing overview study, there are four general
steps.1

STEP 1 Go through the material in the same way we would read a magazine—
flipping through the pages quickly just to get an idea of what it contains and
where it is found. We will notice some things because they “jump off the
page” but there are also some things that we will not notice. In this step, we
will not focus on detail but first impressions.
STEP 2 At this step, we want to go through the material with a little more
deliberation. Take a bit more time. We may want to read the first verse of
some chapters or even the chapter heads (if there are any). We start to see
some key words or phrases.
STEP 3 At this step, we now decide to go back and read particular chapters or
sections. We read very quickly, scanning the text by letting our eye travel
quickly without lingering over words. After reading, we want to pause to jot
down reflections or impressions—themes and topics, words and phrases
that strike us; this may be geographical references, time stamps,
introduction of a character. We may want to give your notes a short title
that sums up the main content of what we have read. Keep it short so that it
is easy to remember.
STEP 4 In the final step, we summarize our observations, such as composition and
organization. We may also want to group similar themes together or note
themes that repeat. This is where we interpret what we have observed.
Putting together things that belong together and putting a structure into
what we have observed.

In doing the survey study, we need to record our observations so we do not forget what
we have discovered or learned. It is useful to organize our observations in a chart so that
we can take in everything at a glance, and get a quick, visual overview of the entire
Gospel.

1 Schneider, Workbook, pp. 23-24.


DISPOSITION| Always start your session with a prayer and an invitation for the Holy
Spirit to empower you. Ask for the grace to grow in the knowledge of God’s Word. At the
end of your session, do not forget to thank the Lord for guiding and assisting you.

ASSIGNMENT ONE | Open your Bible to the Gospel of John and start flipping
through the pages as you would with a magazine, letting your eyes rest for a moment on
each page. As you do so, observe divisions and chapter headings, the length of chapters
and paragraphs. This should take between five to ten minutes. After doing so, put down
in your notebook some phrases or key words that stood out for you or made a first
impression. Estimated duration: 5-10 mins.

ASSIGNMENT TWO | Go back through the entire Gospel again. Just scan the first
and last sentence of every paragraph or of each small section of material. Do not spend a
lot of time per chapter, roughly only about a minute per chapter. As you finish a chapter,
write down some key words that struck you in a chart similar to the one below.
Estimated duration: 20 mins.

Chart 1
Chapter/ Key words/Phrases Heading Other observations
Verse

ASSIGNMENT THREE| Go back again to the very beginning of the Gospel, but this
time read everything by scanning each chapter. By scanning, this means letting your
eyes travel down the page without stopping to catch details.

As you scan chapter by chapter, notice the following: the main characters aside from
Jesus, significant events, key words or phrases, major teachings, important locations,
time references, and anything else that you may consider important. As you finish a
chapter, give each chapter a title, which can be one to two words that sum up the
important aspects of the chapter (this is so that you can recall easily the general content
of the chapter). Record your observations in your notebook in a chart similar to the one
below. Construct as many charts as you may need, based on the chapters that you scan.

Chart 2
Chapter Main events Main Place and Key words
titles characters time and other
observations

Estimated duration: 30 mins. There are twenty chapters in the Gospel of John. It is
recommended that for Assignment Three, we take 7 chapters per session. If we take 30
mins to scan 7 chapters, we should be finished with Assignment Three in three days.

2
ASSIGNMENT FOUR| By this time, we should have worked through the entire
Gospel of John. Our objective for this assignment is now to construct a Book Chart.

We want to look for major divisions in the Gospel, turning points, key events. If we see
any, let us include them in the Book Chart. Are there chapters which should belong
together? We also want to look for any titles that Jesus is given, any miracles performed;
we want to merge the key words and phrases from our Charts 1 and 2 with those titles
and miracles. We also want to look for any of the great Jewish feasts that are mentioned
and note what key events happened during these feasts.

Our objective is to put the entire Gospel (all 21 chapters) into one chart, without
focusing too much on the details (which will come later).

Our book chart should be written in our notebooks so that we can easily refer back to it
anytime during our detailed study of the chapters.

Estimated duration: two days

FOR GROUP SHARING:

When all the members have completed their survey study and their book charts, the
AGL should schedule, during one AG meeting, one meeting for sharing of our
discoveries.

Dynamics:

● Call to order
● Praise and worship
● Sharing of discoveries (it is recommended that members bring their notebooks
and charts and discuss their discoveries during this session).
● Closing prayer

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