This study of Johannine exegesis in the sixteenth century covers nearly ever important commentator on John from the first half of the century, and examines the medieval and patristic traditions on which they drew. But while comprehensive in its scope, this book centers on the John commentary of Wolfgang Musculus (1497-1563), an influential leader of the Protestant Reformation in the cities of Augsburg and Bern.

As a theologian and biblical scholar, he authored a large number of theological and exegetical works which remained popular well into the seventeenth century. Despite his influence, however, Musculus has been virtually ignored by modern scholarship on the Reformation.

This book will be important to Reformation scholars, especially in the English-speaking world, who have long needed an introduction to this little-studied figure. Historians of exegesis and New Testament scholars will also benefit from Farmer's penetrating analysis of the "pre-clinical" exegetical tradition on the Johannine signs.