John Painter is Professor of Theology and St. Mark's National Theological Centre, Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia. He is the author of Mark's Gospel: Worlds in Conflict (1997), The Quest for the Messiah (2d ed., 1993), Theology as Hermeneutics: Rudolf Bultmann's Interpretation of the History of Jesus (1987), Reading John's Gospel Today (1980), and John: Witness and Theologian (1975).