The Divine Logos: The Christology of the Prologue of John (original) (raw)
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The Word as Light and Life: An appraisal of John’s use of LOGOS in John 1:1-18
2022
This paper undertakes the oft quoted, but equally misunderstood use of the evangelist John's use of logos in his preface to his gospel account. There is much space given to accounting for the rich Old Testament imagery which the evangelist employs. This along with key ideas about how the proposed chiastic structure of the prologue is centering the readership's view on key themes which culminate or climax in Jesus' identity as the logos who brings the light and life of God into the world.
Why Did John call Jesus "the Word"?
Sefer Press Publishing, 2024
This article explores the theological and historical significance of John’s identification of Jesus as “the Word” (Greek: Logos) in the opening of his Gospel (John 1:1-14). By drawing on Jewish traditions such as the Old Testament’s portrayal of God’s Word, Wisdom literature, and the Targumic Memra, as well as Hellenistic influences like Philo of Alexandria’s Logos, John’s Gospel synthesizes diverse elements into a profound theological vision. The Logos is presented as preexistent, divine, and intimately united with God, playing a central role in creation, revelation, and redemption. Through a detailed comparative analysis, the article highlights the innovative manner in which John redefines the Logos, culminating in its full personification and incarnation in Jesus Christ. This study underscores the theological brilliance of John’s Prologue, illustrating its roots in Jewish and Hellenistic traditions and its transformative role in early Christian doctrine.
Scriptura, 2014
The article will address the philosophical and historical interpretive interest of the concept logos in the Johannine narrative from the perspective of orality and literacy research in the New Testament. The Logos in the Gospel of John serves as a forceful intellectual and ideological stimulus in the context of the Johannine community. The article will employ a multidisciplinary approach in reading the concept logos logocentrically (orally) rather than graphocentrically (textcentrically) from the perspective of orality-literacy which unfolds a new dimension for oral and written hermeneutics in the light of the reading of Logos in Jn 1:1.
The History of the Logos in John 1.1–18: Creation, Israel, and Incarnation
Unpublished Paper, 2016
This paper explores the history references to which John refers in the Prologue, including the pre-incarnate career of the Logos. It argues in favor of some suggestions by C. H. Dodd and Daniel Boyarin that bring John's Prologue into line with intra-Jewish dialogue rather than post-Jewish Christian polemic.
The Divine Logos of John 1 and Augustine's Analogy of the Word
In order to shed light on the meaning of John 1, St. Augustine would turn to “that image which the creature is, that is, to the rational soul for a more careful questioning and consideration” of the procession of the Son from the Father. He would do so by seeing a link between the way the mind “beget[s] its knowledge when it knows itself” and the way the Father begets the Son; in other words, the way a word is spoken by man and the way the Divine Word is ‘spoken’ by the Father. In this essay, I investigate both the way this ‘analogy of the word’ was used by thinkers prior to Augustine and also the thought of the Latin Father himself. I have also added an appendix on the subsequent thought of Aquinas on this point.