[1] Biblical scholars and historians of Christianity who assert the existence of such a community that drew heavily from Johannine literature in their doctrine include Harold W. Attridge[1] and Raymond E.
The Johannine community of the first century bequeathed to the universal church its distinctive literary corpus and estimation of Jesus,[4] which came to dominate the development of later Christian orthodoxy.
Other representatives of Johannine Christianity, nurturing alternative strands of tradition, influenced various second-century movements, characterized by their opponents and much modern scholarship as 'Gnostic'.
[7] This interpretation, which saw the community as essentially sectarian and standing outside the mainstream of early Christianity, has been increasingly challenged in the first decades of the 21st century,[8] and there is currently considerable debate over the social, religious, and historical context of the gospel.
[13] More recently, the existence of a Johannine Community has been challenged by Hugo Méndez (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).