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.

Patristic witnesses variously attribute the corpus to John, yet modern scholarship largely distinguishes the author of Revelation from the writers behind the Gospel and Letters. A a Johannine school or community that produced the latter documents and preserved the voice of an Elder figure has been proposed, but the idea of a Johannine community has been increasingly challenged, and there is no consensus among scholars today.Debate continues over how the materials relate to the historical John the Apostle, but the prevailing view separates the seer of Patmos from the Evangelist and explains the similarities among the Gospel and Letters through shared tradition and collaborative redaction.

The five writings converge on core motifs of Jesus as the revealer sent from the Father, the witness of the Spirit, contrasts of light and darkness, and communal tests of love and truth, even as their genres generate different emphases, from the Gospel's narrative irony to Revelation's apocalyptic visions and the Letters' boundary setting exhortations. The works combine theological coherence with internal diversity that continues to shape scholarly interpretation.

Johannine literature is traditionally taken to include the following five writings.

The Gospel of John is a narrative Gospel that combines public signs and extended discourses to present Jesus as the incarnate Word who reveals the Father. 1 John reads as a sermonic circular that reinforces confession of the Son, obedience, and love in the face of schism. 2 John is a brief admonitory letter warning a chosen congregation about itinerant deceivers and urging hospitality governed by truth. 3 John is a personal letter commending faithful emissaries, censuring Diotrephes, and modeling the networked authority of the Elder. Revelation is an apocalypse in epistolary form that addresses seven assemblies with visions of judgment, worship, and the renewal of creation.

Scholars describe the Gospel of John as unfolding in a Book of Signs (John 1–12) followed by a Book of Glory (John 13–20), where seven public signs lead into extended discourses and culminate in passion and resurrection scenes. The Gospel also contains seven "I am" sayings, concluding with Thomas's confession "my Lord and my God," a title also used by Emperor Domitian (AD 81-96).

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Free him, and let him go." John 11:43-44