Fr. Vann's aim has been to help readers who are not biblical scholars to catch something of the richness and depth of St. John's thought without having to refer constantly to commentaries and dictionaries. The first part of the book is an introductory essay which lays strong emphasis on John's use of symbolic language to convey his message, the world of life; and in order to bring out the full richness of these gospel symbols it views them not in isolation but against the background first of all of the Old Testament writings and then more generally of the universal imagery of mind kind as a whole in which, down through the ages and still to-day, it has expressed and expresses in myth and ritual, in poetry and painting, in folklore and fairly-tale, in fantasy and in the world of dream s its deepest aspirations. The second part of the book is a presentations of the gospel itself: not a new translation but an adaption, keeping as closely as possible to the text but at the same time adapting it where necessary by paraphrasing, expanding, rearranging, so as to make its meaning as clear and simple and easy to follow as possible.