Johannine literature is a modern collective term for five New Testament writings that early Christian tradition linked in various ways with John the Apostle or a related circle of teachers: the Gospel of John, the three Johannine epistles (1 John, 2 John, and 3 John), and the Book of Revelation. The designation identifies a literary family with shared vocabulary and theology without implying single authorship, and it reflects how ancient readers grouped the texts while acknowledging distinct voices within them.
Current scholarship usually dates the Gospel and Letters to the final decades of the first century, often AD 90–110; some pursue earlier signs and editions, while recent scholarship increasingly views the gospel as a literary unity by a single author. Revelation is most often dated within the reign of Domitian (AD 81–96) because of its address to seven assemblies in Roman Asia and its critique of imperial cult imagery, though a minority advocates an earlier context in the late 60s under Nero or Galba.
