Discover how John’s symbols, signs, and stories shaped one of the most influential portraits of Jesus in history.
The Gospel That Doesn’t Fit
John is strikingly different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is full of unique scenes and miracles, including turning water into wine, taking a secret trip to Jerusalem, and raising a man named Lazarus out of the tomb. The Gospel is also filled with long winding speeches that circle back on themselves.
These differences are not an accident. Writing decades after the events, the author was likely aware of the earlier gospels. But he chose to take a different path, building a new account with incredible care. Almost nothing is where it is by chance. Every scene paints a bold picture of Jesus as an immortal, divine being.
And John paints it with symbols. Water, light, bread, a vine, a shepherd, a mysterious “hour.” He hides his real meaning inside these images, so the surface story is never the whole story.
But what the author hides is bolder than a picture of Jesus alone. Underneath the signs runs a claim so daring it is easy to miss… that Jesus came to earth to turn ordinary human beings into beings like himself. Humans can become spirit, immortal, and divine themselves. That promise is woven into nearly every scene.
Which is why, Dr. Méndez argues, you almost have to read John backwards, catching on a second pass what the signs meant all along. This course teaches you to read John as a historian and literary critic would, decoding how the gospel was built and why.
Format
Live online + recordings
Lectures
8 · 50 min each
Live Q&A
2 sessions
Schedule
Aug 29 & 30 · 2026
Instructor
Hugo Méndez
Hugo Méndez · 2026 Associate Professor of Religious Studies · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Hugo Méndez is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Inside the classroom, he is an award-winning teacher of the New Testament and Early Christianity. Outside of it, he is an internationally recognized expert on the Gospel of John, whose recent books include The Gospel of John: A New History (Oxford, 2025) and The Epistles of John: Origins, Authorship, Purpose (Cambridge, 2026). Above all, Méndez has a passion for sharing religion and history with the wider public, with regular appearances on documentaries for such outlets as the History and Discovery channels.
What This Course Offers
Hugo Méndez reads John the way its author built it, line by line and symbol by symbol, taught live, with the chance to ask your questions in real time.
The signs, symbols, and double meanings most readers walk right past. Dr. Méndez shows you how to spot them, and read the story hiding underneath.
Dr. Hugo Méndez teaches the New Testament and early Christianity at UNC-Chapel Hill and co-authored, with Bart Ehrman, the standard New Testament textbook.
Eight live lectures across two days, with two dedicated Q&A sessions, all recorded with lifetime access so you can attend live or catch up whenever you like.
No prior background in the Bible or ancient history required. Whether you’re a believer, a skeptic, or simply curious, the reading is built from the ground up.
Common Assumption
In John, we’re reading the actual words Jesus spoke.
In fact
John’s Jesus talks nothing like the Jesus of Matthew, Mark, and Luke: long speeches and the famous “I am” declarations that appear nowhere else. Most scholars, Dr. Méndez included, think the author had creative freedom to shape Jesus’ speeches.
Common Assumption
John is the simple, familiar gospel.
In fact
It may be the most beloved account of Jesus, but it is also the one readers misunderstand the most. Its plain surface is a deliberately layered text, quietly asking to be read again.
Common Assumption
The miracles are just proof that Jesus was divine.
In fact
John refuses to call them miracles. He calls them signs, and a sign, by definition, points somewhere else. Each one dramatizes a hidden teaching, not just power.
Common Assumption
John promises believers a place in heaven, and little more.
In fact
John’s real claim is stranger and bolder: that human beings, born on earth, can become spirit, immortal, and divine themselves. It is the astonishing teaching hidden inside the symbols.
Common Assumption
You’ve read John, so you know what it says.
In fact
A whole layer of the gospel is hiding in plain sight. Learn to read its symbols and the book you thought you knew turns into one you have never actually read.
The course meets live on Zoom over two afternoons, Saturday August 29 and Sunday August 30, 2026 (Eastern Time): four fifty-minute lectures and a live Q&A each day. Every session is recorded with lifetime access, so you can attend live or catch up whenever you like. Click any lecture to read what it covers.
The Gospel of John is one of the most beloved accounts of Jesus’ life, but it is also the one readers misunderstand the most. Its familiar stories often seem simple, yet John invites a deeper kind of reading: its scenes are signs, carefully shaped symbolic episodes that reveal the gospel’s hidden vision of Jesus, God, and human destiny. This lecture introduces the gospel anew, orienting you to the creative literary project hidden within its pages.
To understand the cryptic stories in John, one must first grasp the gospel’s essential teachings. Those teachings orbit a striking vision of a God who has a Word, Mind, or Reason, through whom he creates the world. In this lecture we explore the gospel’s teachings about God and Jesus, the first keys necessary to unlock the many mysteries of John.
John reveals a God who is spirit, immortal, celestial, and divine. But these revelations only set the stage for even more expansive and shocking teachings: how human beings, born on earth, can become spirit, immortal, celestial, and divine themselves. As we explore these astonishing claims, we find that they are not merely points of theology; they are the very structure of John’s storytelling and plot design.
The Gospel of John opens with a series of unusual scenes, including a mysterious opening teaching about a divine ladder and a miracle in which Jesus turns water into wine. Hidden in each of these stories is the profound, multifaceted vision at the heart of the gospel: a vision of Jesus as the one who makes humans spirit, leads them to celestial realms, and gives them a new divine nature.
As Jesus sets out on his journey, he performs a spate of miracles and gestures that reveal his identity and purpose on earth, some of them especially difficult to understand. In this lecture we explore the next several stories of John, among them a miraculous hillside lunch and an unusual night voyage, showing how each gives further shape to the gospel’s unique teachings about human transformation.
Healing a man born blind, raising Lazarus from the dead: in the middle chapters of John, Jesus performs signs as memorable as they are mysterious. These miracles are not merely displays of power. Instead, they dramatize ideas seeded across the gospel, pressing readers to distinguish earthly seeing from divine sight, and physical life from eternal life.
Across John, Jesus predicts a coming “hour” when he will leave the world and return to the Father. That hour arrives as he enters Jerusalem, washes his disciples’ feet, and teaches them his final secrets in the dim of a nighttime conversation. This lecture decodes these secret teachings on the week before his death, showing how they prepare the disciples, and readers today, to follow him on his ascent to heaven.
John’s final scenes, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the appearances of Jesus, bring the gospel’s vision to its climax. In Jesus’ death, humans see their own path to glory; and in his risen body, Jesus reveals the glorified body humans will one day share. This lecture decodes the passion and resurrection as the gospel’s ultimate vehicle for its distinctive theology.
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A dedicated live Q&A each day, recorded so you can revisit the questions and Dr. Méndez’s answers anytime.
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All eight lectures and both Q&A sessions are recorded with lifetime access, so you can attend live or catch up and rewatch whenever you like.
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Download Dr. Méndez’s full slide decks and a curated reading list, ideal for review, note-taking, or going deeper on your own.
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Searchable transcripts and closed captions for every lecture, perfect for quoting, deeper study, or following along if English is not your first language.
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MP3 downloads of every lecture. Listen on your commute, during a walk, or whenever you’re away from a screen.
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A quiz to test your understanding and reinforce the key ideas as you move through the gospel.
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Curated discussion questions for each part of the course, for going deeper on your own or with a study group.
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Hugo Méndez’s lecture on “Reading John Backwards,” from NINT 2023, included free with your registration.
$1 from every registration is donated to charity: water, bringing clean water to people in need.
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A live, eight-lecture deep dive into the most symbolic gospel.
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Dr. Hugo Méndez presents eight fifty-minute lectures, four each day, plus a live Q&A session at the end of each day. The course meets live on Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30, 2026.
Yes. Classes meet live on Zoom over two afternoons (Saturday August 29, 1:00–5:30 PM ET, and Sunday August 30, 2:00–6:30 PM ET), so you can take part and ask Dr. Méndez your questions in real time. Every session is also recorded.
No problem. Every lecture and Q&A is recorded and posted to our online platform, and you keep lifetime access. You can attend the sessions that work for you and catch up on the rest whenever you like.
After you enroll, you will receive the Zoom links for the live sessions by email, along with login instructions for our online course platform, ThriveCart Learn, where all recordings are posted. If you are a member of Biblical Studies Academy (BSA), your access will also be available inside the community.
Yes. The recordings of all eight lectures (and both Q&A sessions) are yours with lifetime access. You can watch them on any device, on your own schedule, and return to them as often as you like.
No prior knowledge required. Dr. Méndez introduces the gospel, its world, and its key ideas as the course unfolds. Whether you’re coming in fresh or already have a background in biblical studies, you’ll find the course genuinely rewarding.
Yes. Members of Biblical Studies Academy (BSA) receive 30% off the course price. The course is also included with your BSA membership for as long as you are a member; purchasing it separately makes it yours with lifetime access, so you keep it even if your membership ever ends.
Yes. The recordings include closed captions, and full transcripts are included with the course, so you can follow along in text or search for specific passages.
We accept PayPal and all major credit cards.
Absolutely. If you don’t love the course, send us an email at support@bartehrman.com within 30 days and we will refund 100% of your investment.
