Within the richness of the New Testament the Johannine writings maintain a distinctive and honoured place. Shared idiosyncrasies of language and thought bind the Gospel and Epistles of John together; despite a fundamentally different perspective and apparent background, the Apocalypse too seems to have established links with this tradition. While Johannine theology has long been recognised as sounding a major voice within the New Testament, its historical place within the development of the early church has been vigorously disputed. The traditional identification of the author of all the Johannine writings as John the Apostle and son of Zebedee located them in close connection with the ministry of Jesus and within the apostolic church. The surrender of that identification has often gone hand in hand with a supposition that Johannine thought represents an isolated and marginal form of first-century Christianity, only really coming into its own after the middle of the second century. This rests on the apparent lack of earlier attestation of the Gospel, on its supposed earlier popularity among gnostic groups, and on the limited contacts between the Johannine and other writings of the New Testament.

The other side of this is the sharply defined common identity of the Johannine writings (with the probable exception of Revelation, which has its own idiosyncrasies). Even if, or rather especially if, they are not by the same author, the fact that they share language, style, terminology and patterns of theological thought and outlook points to a tradition which was encapsulated within a defined group. It is this which makes it possible to talk about Johannine theology and also about Johannine Christianity.