A retrospective and a prospective reading of Jn 1:1-18 using the method of biblical rhetorical analysis.
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Date
2012
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Abstract
This study is an attempt to read the Prologue of the Gospel of John using the type of
Rhetorical Analysis based on Semitic logic. This Semitic approach shows the chiastic
construction of the Prologue demonstrating its centre to be anthropocentric rather than
theocentric. Furthermore this Semitic logic makes it possible to identify the central term
(pisteu,ousin) in the Prologue and also demonstrates the strategic placing of that term.
Modern and post-modern literary approaches are employed to discover what the implied
reader knows about the Prologue. The rationale in all this is that the more one engages with
the implied reader, the more one gets to know about the text. The construction of the implied
reader takes into account the worldview prominent in the first century CE biblical world. The
aspects which deal with a retrospective reading of the text make it possible to enter into the
Jewish biblical and socio-cultural matrix which has generated themes touched on by the
Prologue. The aspects dealing with the prospective reading of the text demonstrate how the
Prologue prepares the real reader to engage with the remainder of the Gospel of John.
The research in Intertextuality has made it abundantly clear that in reading the Prologue
the real reader actually engages with a multiplicity of texts and circumstances to such an
extent that s/he is not merely reading Jn 1:1-18 but a vast network of information and codes
known to the implied reader. The interpretations produced by such an engagement are both
creative and original. For example, the association of the centre piece of the Prologue with
the promise God made to Abraham is no mere inferential leap – it derives from literal and
thematic intertextual engagements with the two testaments which comprise the Christian
Bible.
Some epistemological problems have surfaced with respect to the interactionism and
relational dynamics associated with the reading process and these are pointed out in the
thesis. It must be noted that far from hampering the work, these epistemological issues have
actually pointed out new directions for further research. In this regard the General Conclusion
to the thesis is relevant.
Key terms: Johannine Prologue; the Gospel of John; Exegesis/Exegetical Method; Rhetorical
Analysis; Semitic thinking; Intertextuality; Reader Response Criticism; Implied reader; Real
reader; Jesus Christ; Moses; Jewish culture; John the Baptist; Qumran community; o` lo,goj;
Incarnation; Wisdom traditions; Exodus; Glory of God.
Description
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.
Keywords
Bible. N.T. John--Criticism, interpretation, etc., Rhetoric in the Bible., Narration in the Bible., Theses--Theology.