The figure of the Forerunner in the Gospel of John and the patristic commentaries

This article by Yves-Marie Blanchard examines the figure of John the Baptist in the Gospel of John, clearly distinguishing it from the Synoptic presentation. The study, exegetical and patristic in nature, is organized around four complementary sections: the historical referent, the narrative implementation, the theological symbolization, and the patristic re-reading, primarily through Origen's commentary. The central idea is that John the Baptist is not, in the fourth gospel, a forerunner in the strict sense, but a "witness" — a fundamental narrative and theological category — who accompanies the first steps of Jesus as a contemporary rather than a predecessor. The article makes a twofold contribution: it shows that Johannine Christology is rooted in the Baptist's testimony, and it establishes that Origen, by identifying six successive testimonies, confirms the central role of John the Baptist in the revelatory strategy specific to the fourth gospel.