Navigating the Living Waters of the Gospel of John (original) (raw)
Related papers
2000
Document Type Article Publication Date 2000 Abstract The Fourth Gospel has been called "a stream in which a child can wade and an elephant can swim." John has long been used as a primer for newcomers to faith, and it continues to be a favorite devotional reading for young and old alike. On the other hand, John continues to be an ongoing storm center among the finest of Bible scholars and theologians. John's content, complete with its theological tensions, evoked three centuries of debate in the early church, and it continues to produce great torrents of diverse scholarly opinion on a great number of issues into the twenty-first century. The question I want to explore is Why? What is it that renders John so reader friendly on one hand, and so theologically puzzling on the other? Put otherwise, how does one navigate the "living waters" of the Gospel of John? Comments Originally published in the Pendle Hill Pamphlets 352 in 2000.
The Gospel of John: A Universalistic Reading
The Gospel of John: A Universalistic Reading, 2020
A Brief Review of the Book The Fourth Gospel functions as a literary masterpiece that facilitates a narrative beyond the time and space aspects. The Gospel's linguistic phenomena and stylistic aspects are peculiar as they attune the attention of the reader toward a dramatic and ideological world of its own. The connection between the narrator and the historical/implied/contemporary reader is established from an eternal vantage point as the narrator directs the reader toward atemporal and universal realities. The author as a classicist encompasses the socio-cultural and religio-political realities of the Greco-Roman world, incorporates the hope of the Jewish society, foregrounds the contextual realities and the struggles of the Johannine community, and fulfils the various demands and requirements of the future generations of readers and believers. The peculiar linguistic and idiosyncratic techniques of the narrator have the power to absorb the attention of the reader not only from a 'there and then' and 'here and now' senses but also from an 'everywhere and ever' perspective. In that sense, the Fourth Gospel functions as a gnomic and universalistic artistry. John's Gospel can be considered as a commentary in its own terms. The extended episodes of the Fourth Gospel, different from the Synoptic style of pericopes, foreground the ideas of the author through the exchange and episode developments. The Logos-Christology and the poetic demonstration of the coming of Jesus (1:1-18) reveal its universalistic aspects. John interprets history in the form of a quasi-poem, an interpretation, or ultimately a commentary in its own way. This style of the Gospel is designed with a gnomic perspective. The Fourth Gospel's 'vertical' and 'realizing' eschatology and the 'ever-continuing' present aspect support its gnomic and universalistic development. The Gospel's pre-existent Christology and the emphasis on life/eternal life take the reader's attention toward the everlasting perspective. The maxims like the "I AM Sayings" and the symbolic presentation of the Signs attune the attention of the reader toward the universal significance of the Gospel. The narrator and the implied reader dynamism of the text enable the modern reader to understand the narrative world of the gospel. The contemporary readers find the unique dynamism of the text as an interpretative means to get engaged with the text. The purpose statement of the Gospel (20:30-31; cf. 21:25) makes the implied reader aware of the logic behind all the events and the coherence of the discourses units. The narrator is fully concerned to inspire readers in/with the text to believe/continue to believe in Jesus that he is the Messiah and the Son of God and that through believing they may receive 'eternal life' and be saved. Thus from the soteriological point of view, the Gospel promises eternal guarantee and protection. The dialogues as active voice and direct speech units influence the reader to be a 'believer' and to be saved. This feature of the dialogue enables it to be a performative act in itself. It provides pleasure to the reader and helps her/him to be persuaded, provoked and transformed. Thus the text works with all the characteristic features of rhetoric. The text, in that sense, cannot be reckoned as a 'passive' treatise rather as an 'active' counterpart to the modern reader. It happens only when the narrator takes extra effort to tell the story dramatically through the means of showing and telling (cf. Quintilian, Inst
Religious Studies Review, 2012
Jerusalem to Rome is marked by a series of turf battles between the apostles and representatives of Hellenistic religious practices." Whether a clash with sorcerers at Samaria (Acts 8) or Paphos (Acts 13), pagan prophets at Philippi (Acts 16), or powerful brokers of the cult of Artemis at Ephesus (Acts 19), early Christian messengers required both familiarity with and necessary tools for confrontation with these varied beliefs and practices. Such narratives also echo countless pastoral warnings by Peter, John, and Paul concerning the former lives of believers who "had turned from idols to serve. .. God" (1 Thess. 1:9). Johnson exhibits disappointment with a long-standing scholarly tradition that gives minimal attention to the role of first century "pagan" religion or adheres to old and artificial structures that merely regionalize Judaism and Greco-Roman culture. To counter, Johnson identifies four pervasive religious domains. Seekers typically pursue salvation for personal benefits, moral transformation, transcendent experience, and/or societal stabilization. Each "type" shares various fundamental quests, yet interacts and competes with core dynamics of Christianity. This outstanding volume should become the standard for customary graduate/seminary courses on NT backgrounds. (Johnson includes over one hundred pages of footnotes filled with invaluable primary sources.) Finally, Johnson suggests proponents of contemporary Christian advancement require similar breadth for engagement of present-day religions; perhaps a more careful reading of the NT will encourage readers to better understand and wrestle with the complexities of our contemporary mosaic of global religions.
Preaching the Gospel of John. Proclaiming the Living Word. By Lamar Williamson Jr
The Heythrop Journal, 2007
The goal of this paper is developing a study guide that helps a diverse group of students, found in the local congregation, to become apprentices of Jesus by encountering John's Gospel. The thesis was tested at Discover Church, a congregation located in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, which has experienced rapid urbanization with an influx of people from different ethnic backgrounds. This dramatic change has brought a distinct mix to the congregation. The study argues that many Christians struggle with a lack of biblical knowledge. This insecurity has significantly impacted Discover Church. It has fostered a culture of clericalism, where the laity believes that only clergy are qualified to read and teach Scripture, an inability by laity to articulate their faith, as well as robbing Christians of the full witness of Scripture. The Strands of John study is designed to counter this biblical ignorance. The foundation for Strands of John is formed by three principles: first, the unique nature of the Gospel of John; second, an affirmation of the Lutheran understanding of Scripture and "the Priesthood of the Baptized;" finally, classical practices of reading Scripture as excellent tools for the believer to interact with the Bible. Three goals were built on this foundation: help the student to encounter the heart of the Gospel of John, introduce the student to the inductive Bible study method, and familiarize the student with spiritual practices used in reading the Bible. Strands of John was originally taught to over seventy-five students. While not a panacea to solve biblical illiteracy, it does take an important step to making the Bible accessible to the laity.
Beyond John's Gospel, 2018
This is a creative work thesis which explores the mystical nuances found within the folklore that emanated from the Gospel according to John. The thesis is interdisciplinary. It draws together drama theory and performative exegesis in an engagement with the Gospel as bibliodrama. Using dramaturgy as a creative methodological approach, this thesis enquires into the leitmotif of “seeing” in the Gospel, and the related allusions to Merkabah mysticism and visionary experiences. My research asks what might be invoked or revealed by the re-creation of the Gospel as a bibliodrama with a mystical emphasis? Or, what does it really mean to “see” with John? This inquiry is outlined in the critical exegesis, and then culminates in the dramatic engagement found in the creative work. The critical exegesis narrates, analyses and critiques the interplay between methodology, discipline and artefact. Bibliodrama acts as an exploratory tool for experimental hermeneutic inquiry, and establishes the theoretical framework guiding the creative process. This is done by drawing on drama theory, theatre semiotics, theory of performance and dramaturgical hermeneutics to script the play found in the creative work. The creative work features as a bibliodramatic script devised for a theatre production. The playwriting results in a creative artefact that, in an innovative way, explores Jesus as the mystagogue and Mary as a mystes. The characters of Jesus and Mary are invoked, remythologised and re-inscribed within the bibliodrama. The effect is that the spectator/reader experiments with a number of new epistemological insights into the potentiality of mystical content in the Gospel. This experimentation was achieved by drawing out the mystical references to “seeing” within certain pericopae used by John. These pericopae were re-scripted as a bricolage into a creative work. The play traces other mystical motifs such as the Son of Man, light, born from above, truth, glorification, indwelling, abiding and ascending/descending as developed by John and draws upon non-canonical writings in relation to these motifs. In the bibliodrama these express an experience of mystical transformation. By invoking intertextuality: from before, during and beyond the time of the Gospel, the bibliodrama enacts a performative exegesis drawing on a range of texts that shed light on the mystery of mystical themes and the relationship of Jesus and Mary. This thesis contributes to biblical scholarship as a remythologised and dynamic reading of Jesus as a mystic or mystagogue of a Merkabah tradition, particularly for understanding the author of the Gospel and his symbolic language, by using bibliodrama devised as a theatre script. The play embodies the intersection of the Gospel according to John and other texts with newly composed material by the dramatist which creates a complex temporality that effectively dramatises the multiple levels of meaning in the received tradition. Key Words Merkabah, mysticism, mystagogue, mystes, mise-en-scène, theoria, fictrix/fictor, cosmology, bibliodrama, dramaturgy, performance exegesis, experimental hermeneutics, bricolage, semiotics of theatre, intertextuality, gnosticism, cento, religious dramas.
Staying Connected: A Socio-Rhetorical Analysis of Transitions in the First Epistle of John
In rural East Tennessee, where I served as a pastor's wife for 18 years among Appalachian country folk, quilting and knitting afghans are regular pass-times of many of the women. County Fairs and Country magazines regularly feature prize-winning squares and finished quilts. One blue-ribbon knitted square particularly stands out in my memory. It was very simple-not much to look at as an individual square. The design consisted of a number of diagonal rows of complementary colors. The genius of the prize-winning square was revealed in the finished product. When each square was stitched in place at a particular angle in relationship to surrounding squares, a geometric pattern emerged that could not have been envisioned from seeing one square alone.