Jesus in John's Gospel: Structure and Issues in Johannine Christology by William Loader

2020 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-326
Author(s):  
Francis M. Macatangay
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Austin

This brief concluding chapter includes a summary of the book’s main points, chapter by chapter. It also includes a brief meditation on the portion of John’s gospel, John 13:1–17, in which Jesus serves his disciples by washing their feet. The act itself expresses humility, a fact that is underscored by the reversal of social roles that it exemplifies. It is especially striking that Jesus washes the feet of Judas, who would soon betray him. This reversal of social roles not only exemplifies the moral virtue of humility, it also provides a model for followers of Christ to imitate in daily life. The foot washing can also serve as a reminder to those who seek to exemplify the Christian virtue of humility, namely, that there are opportunities to do so in small, everyday situations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-264
Author(s):  
Andrew P. Wilson

One of the grand scenes of the Passion narratives can be found in John’s Gospel where Pilate, presenting Jesus to the people, proclaims “Behold the man”: “Ecce Homo.” But what exactly does Pilate mean when he asks the reader to “Behold”? This paper takes as its point of departure a roughly drawn picture of Jesus in the “Ecce Homo” tradition and explores the relationship of this picture to its referent in John’s Gospel, via its capacity as kitsch devotional art. Contemporary scholarship on kitsch focuses on what kitsch does, or how it functions, rather than assessing what it is. From this perspective, when “beholding” is understood not for what it reveals but for what it does, John’s scene takes on a very different significance. It becomes a scene that breaks down traditional divisions between big and small stories, subject and object as well as text and context. A kitsch perspective opens up possibilities for locating John’s narrative in unexpected places and experiences. Rather than being a two-dimensional departure from the grandeur of John’s trial scene, kitsch “art” actually provides a lens through which the themes and dynamics of the narrative can be re-viewed with an expansiveness somewhat lacking from more traditional commentary.



Author(s):  
William Lamb

This chapter sets the making of commentaries on John’s Gospel, particularly within the Greek tradition, in the context of ancient Greek scholarship and the emergence of a scholastic tradition within the early Church. These commentaries drew on established philological conventions in order to clarify ambiguities and complexities within the text. At the same time, they served to amplify the meaning of the text in the face of new questions, controversies and preoccupations. Commentators used John’s Gospel ‘to think with’. With its allusive prose and symbolic discourse, the Fourth Gospel provoked commentators to respond to on-going doctrinal debate and to work out wider questions about Christian doctrine and identity.


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