scholarly journals Die Semeia [tekens] in die Evangelie volgens Johannes

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Udo Schnelle
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Source Theory ◽  
John's Gospel ◽  
Miracle Narratives

Die semeia in die Evangelie van Johannes word eerstens geanaliseer in verhouding tot soortgelyke wonderverhale, veral in die sinoptiese evangelies en ten tweede in verhouding tot die breër Johannese narratief. Duidelike ooreenkomste met sommige van die sinoptiese wonderverhale word bespreek. Dit lei tot die bevraagtekening van die sogenaamde ‘semeia-bron’-teorie. Opvolgend op hierdie diskussie word Johannes se eie interpretasie van die wonders nagegaan. Daar word veral aan die vervlegting van die wonderverhale met die teologie van Johannes aandag gegee, veral ten opsigte van die verhouding tussen die Vader en die Seun, geloof, die menslikheid van Jesus en die lyding van Jesus.The Semeia in the Gospel according to John. The semeia in the Gospel of John are analysed, first in relation to other similar miracle narratives, especially in the synoptic gospels, and secondly in perspective of the broader narrative of John’s Gospel. Clear links with some of the synoptic miracle narratives are discussed, questioning the ‘semeia source’ theory. This discussion is followed by a consideration of John’s own interpretation of the miracles, exploring the interwovenness of the miracle stories with the theology of John, especially regarding the relation between the Father and the Son, the humanness of Jesus, the passion of Jesus and faith.

Aphorisms of Jesus in John: An Illustrative Look at John 4.35

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 207-229
Author(s):  
Linda McKinnish Bridges
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Full Expression ◽  
Jesus Seminar ◽  
The World ◽  
John's Gospel ◽  
And Function ◽  
Sayings Of Jesus

AbstractThis literary genre, the aphorism, finds full expression in the Gospel of John. Vestiges of the world of orality, these 'gems of illumination' invite intense reflection and response as they illuminate not only the literary landscape of the Gospel but also provide a lens for viewing the Jesus tradition in the Gospel of John. My work is indebted to the research of J.D. Crossan, author of In Fragments who has written the definitive work on the aphorisms of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels. More explorative work, however, is needed for the aphorisms of Jesus with particular focus on John's Gospel. Although the aphorisms of Jesus in John were omitted in the database of authentic sayings of Jesus compiled by the members of the Jesus Seminar, might these lapidary gems be placed on the table once more for exploration? While I am confident that the Johannine aphorisms lead us through the narrative landscape of the Gospel and even reveal distinctive aspects of the community, is it possible that they might also provide at least a brief glimpse of Jesus? Using the agrarian aphorism of Jn 4.35 as a showcase illustration, this article proposes to identify the form and function of the Johannine aphorism; to investigate the authenticity of the saying in Jn 4.34-35 using established criteria of authenticity; and to suggest the often-overlooked criterion of orality is a most useful tool for continued exploration.

The Competitive Textualization of Johannine and Thomasine Tradition

2020 ◽  
pp. 131-160
Author(s):  
Chris Keith
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Gospel Of Thomas ◽  
John's Gospel

Chapter 5 presents the presence of competitive textualization in John’s Gospel and the Gospel of Thomas. The chapter argues that the Gospel of John claims superiority to prior Jesus books at John 20:30–31 and 21:24–25, the so-called Johannine “colophons.” Particularly in reference to the knowledge of other Jesus books reflected in John 21:24–25, the chapter also suggests that these texts support arguments that the author of John’s Gospel knew one or more of the Synoptic Gospels. The chapter then highlights how the incipit of the Gospel of Thomas continues attempts to outbid predecessors by portraying its Gospel as dictated directly from Jesus.

Meeting Nicodemus: A Case Study in Daring Theological Interpretation

2013 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
David F. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Theological Interpretation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Key Features ◽  
John's Gospel ◽  
Opening Up

AbstractThe Nicodemus story can be read as a distillation of the Gospel of John and an example of many of its key features. John 3:1–21 poses a wide range of the problems raised by this most distinctive and mysterious of the four gospels. It shows characteristic practices of John as a reader, writer and teacher. In line with John's theology of the Spirit ‘leading into all the truth’, it also shows him as a daring theologian, opening up fresh interpretations and ways of doing theology beyond the Septuagint and the Synoptic Gospels and even beyond his own Prologue (itself a remarkably daring piece of theology). That same Spirit means that John also expects his readers to be led into further truth, and to improvise on his theology as he himself did on the Septuagint and on the Synoptic traditions. His ways of reading, writing and teaching encourage such a response in the Spirit by creating a work rich in intertextuality, imagery and conceptuality which has a ‘deep plain sense’, superabundant in meaning and always inviting the reader to reread, learn more and interpret afresh. So one challenge for readers now is whether they are open not only to thinking along with John but also to thinking beyond him, in ways appropriate to different people and contexts. But this transformation in thought and imagination is not all: it is inseparable from doing the truth ‘in God’. The mutual involvement of seeing, believing/trusting, knowing and living in love is above all communicated in the drama of John's Gospel, whose backbone is a series of meetings with Jesus and the injunction to follow Jesus. More embracing and fundamental than, for example, doctrinal theology or existential decision-making, is the dramatic reality of encountering other people and following Jesus in all the complexities of life in specific contexts. In John 3:1–21 the encounter of Jesus with Nicodemus is the dramatic heart of the passage, blending into a discourse which itself culminates in the ultimate drama of ‘deeds done in God’. But to stop interpretation there would be to refuse the Johannine invitation to enter into more truth with a view to ‘doing greater things’. So the article ends with two midrashic interpretations of Nicodemus for today.

John among the Apocalypses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin E. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Genre Theory ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Book Of Revelation ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
And Function

The central place of revelation in the Gospel of John and the Gospel’s revelatory telling of the life of Jesus are distinctive features of John when compared with the Synoptic Gospels; yet, when John is compared among the apocalypses, these same features indicate John’s striking affinity with the genre of apocalypse. By paying attention to modern genre theory and making an extensive comparison with the standard definition of “apocalypse,” the Gospel of John reflects similarities with Jewish apocalypses in form, content, and function. Even though the Gospel of John reflects similarities with the genre of apocalypse, John is not an apocalypse, but in genre theory terms, John may be described as a gospel in kind and an apocalypse in mode. John’s narrative of Jesus’s life has been qualified and shaped by the genre of apocalypse, such that it may be called an “apocalyptic” gospel. Understanding the Fourth Gospel as “apocalyptic” Gospel provides an explanation for John’s appeal to Israel’s Scriptures and Mosaic authority. Possible historical reasons for the revelatory narration of Jesus’s life in the Gospel of John may be explained by the Gospel’s relationship with the book of Revelation and the history of reception concerning their writing. An examination of Byzantine iconographic traditions highlights how reception history may offer a possible explanation for reading John as “apocalyptic” Gospel.

Reading Jesus Writing

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Aichele
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
John's Gospel

AbstractThis essay explores the problematic story of the "woman taken in adultery" (John 7:53-8:11) in relation to logocentric structures that define the Gospel of John. Jesus's two acts of writing on the ground, unique to this story, point to texts that we cannot read and which are therefore unable to signify. I suggest that Jesus's earthy texts do eventually appear in John's Gospel, where they reassure the reader that the Gospel has after all succeeded sufficiently in its task of signifying the incarnation of the pre-existent Word, even as they announce the inherent finitude and incompleteness of any text.

The Reception of the Gospel of John in the Long Recension of Ignatius’s Letters

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 496-520
Author(s):  
Jonathon Lookadoo
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
John's Gospel

The reception of Pauline and Johannine writings in the three centuries after their composition is of interest to NT researchers, and Ignatius of Antioch’s letters have rightly been taken into consideration when studying NT reception history. This article aims to fill a lacuna in reception historical studies of Ignatius’s epistles by exploring the role of John’s gospel in the fourth-century long recension. The long recension employs John when discussing Christology, Trinity, unity, Jewish-Christian identity, resurrection and for polemical purposes. This article thus contributes to ongoing reception historical studies of the NT within Ignatian literature, examines how the Gospel of John was employed by a fourth-century author and explores ways in which John is utilized to expand, update and modify the Ignatian middle recension.

scholarly journals Honour and shame as key concepts in Chrysostom’s exegesis of the Gospel of John

2003 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
H.F. Stander
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Core Values ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
John's Gospel

Recently, studies have illustrated that honour and shame were core values in the Mediterranean world in general and in the Bible too. These studies usually resort to classical sources to support the claims being made. Modern scholars, who take the historical-critical approach seriously, have come to realize the importance of reading the Bible according to its appropriate cultural context, which of necessity includes an appreciation of honour and shame as social core values. However, the article shows that patristic sources have been neglected by many scholars who study the social values of the ancient world. This article illustrates the importance of these values for patristic authors. John Chrysostom’s homilies on the Gospel of John are used as an example to prove how he employed values such as honour and shame as exegetical keys to unlock the meaning of John’s gospel.

0323: A Forgotten 4th or 5th Century Greek Fragment of the Gospel of John in the Syrus Sinaiticus

2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-319
Author(s):  
Christophe Guignard
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
John's Gospel

That the famous Syrus Sinaiticus contains not only the Old Syriac Gospels, but also other palimpsest leaves, among them four leaves of a Greek codex of John’s Gospel, is not a secret. Nevertheless, for 120 years, this Greek fragment, though probably contemporary with the great uncials, was not registered in any list of nt manuscripts and, as a result, completely neglected. The main aim of these pages is to recall its existence and to gather the information that is available at present.

Miracles, Early Modern Science, and Rational Religion

2006 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Fourth Gospel ◽  
Early Modern Science ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
John's Gospel

Readers of the New Testament could be excused for thinking that there is little consistency in the manner in which miracles are represented in the Gospels. Those events typically identified as miracles are variously described as “signs” (semeia), “wonders” (terata), “mighty works” (dunameis), and, on occasion, simply “works” (erga). The absence of a distinct terminology for the miraculous suggests that the authors of the Gospels were not working with a formal conception of “miracle”—at least not in that Humean sense of a “contravention of the laws of nature,” familiar to modern readers. Neither is there a consistent position on the evidentiary role of these events. In the synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—Jesus performs miracles on account of the faith of his audience. In John's Gospel, however, it is the performance of miracles that elicits faith. Even in the fourth Gospel, moreover, the role of miracles as signs of Christ's divinity is not straightforward. Thus those who demand a miracle are castigated: “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” Finally, signs and wonders do not provide unambiguous evidence of the sanctity of the miracle worker or of the truth of their teachings. Accordingly, the faithful were warned (in the synoptic Gospels at least) that “false Christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders [in order] to deceive.”

Engaging scripture: incarnation and the Gospel of John

2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-160
Author(s):  
Angus Paddison
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Fourth Gospel ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
John's Gospel

This article presents a theological engagement with the Christ of the Gospel of John. Christology has two basic responsibilities. First, all Christology is required to demonstrate that it is rooted in scriptural reading. Second, consistent attentiveness needs to be paid to the dynamic relationship between Christ's person and work. The nature of these two responsibilities is elucidated by exploring some recent christological contributions. The remainder of the essay engages with the encounter at the centre of the Fourth Gospel: that in the Word made flesh the eternal love between the Father and the Son is unfolded into the time of this world. Jesus' life and ministry is the decisive meeting of time and eternity. Counsel is then offered for how John's Gospel may faithfully be read in line with this subject matter. Important objections to ‘Logos’ Christologies, and Johannine Christology in particular, are introduced. This article then proceeds to argue for the realistic meeting of all that is human and all that is divine in the person of Jesus who lives a life of loving obedience to the Father. Throughout, this article maintains a conversation with the Fourth Gospel, the ontological implications of this text, and those voices from within Christian tradition that can help us in the reading of John.

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