Search Results (10)

In contemporary New Testament studies, the question of whether Paul employed Greco-Roman rhetoric in his writings and preaching remains contentious. A prominent critic of Paul’s rhetorical usage is Duane Litfin, whose works, St. Paul’s Theology of Proclamation: 1 Corinthians 1–4 and Greco-Roman Rhetoric (1994) and Paul’s Theology of Preaching: The Apostle’s Challenge to the Art of Persuasion in Ancient Corinth (2015), argue that Paul outright rejected rhetoric in favor of a straightforward proclamation of the gospel. Litfin asserts that Paul viewed himself as a herald rather than a rhetorician, that his preaching was devoid of rhetorical adornment, and that 1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5 represents a universal theology of preaching. Litfin further suggests that Paul did not employ rhetoric in his Acts sermons, thereby aligning his epistolary and Acts portrayals of Paul. This article critically evaluates Litfin’s position by addressing five key issues. First, it challenges Litfin’s claim that Paul rejected rhetoric generally, arguing instead that Paul likely repudiated sophistic rhetoric or ornate styles rather than rhetoric per se. Second, it disputes Litfin’s dichotomy between heralds and orators, contending that Paul, identified as an apostle rather than a herald, was not bound by such a false binary. Third, it critiques Litfin’s assumption that 1 Corinthians 1–4 serves as Paul’s comprehensive theology of preaching, arguing instead that the passage is context-specific and not indicative of a universal preaching methodology. Fourth, it rejects Litfin’s view of 1 Corinthians as an apology for Paul’s ministry and style, suggesting instead that it addresses Corinthian divisions and promotes unity. Lastly, the article refutes Litfin’s claim that Paul did not use rhetoric in Acts, highlighting that the rhetorical nature of Acts’ speeches suggests otherwise. Ultimately, this article argues that Paul did not categorically reject rhetoric but utilized it in various forms to effectively communicate the gospel. Full article

John Cottingham argues that traditional university modules in the philosophy of religion take us into a ‘very abstract domain that is often far removed from religion as it actually operates in the life of the believer’. This paper makes four moves based on Cottingham. First, it argues that the application of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s methods supports and facilitates a shift to the anthropological in the philosophy of religion (as evidenced in the work of Mikel Burley). Second, literature is examined as a tool for doing the philosophy of religion, following Danielle Moyal-Sharrock’s notion of the literary text as surveyable representation. Three works are investigated, namely Silence by Shūshaku Endō, The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the Gospel of John. It is argued that, far from being merely illustrative of religion, story is (in its widest sense) constitutive of belief. Third, it is shown how Wittgenstein’s remarks on mysticism in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus can be read as a transmutation of literary writing that creates a non-abstract mysticism of the world. Wittgenstein’s remarks are placed in dialogue with Angelus Silesius’s poetry and Leo Tolstoy’s The Gospel in Brief. Fourth, the relevance of Wittgenstein to the current debate on cultural Christianity is brought out. Philosophers of religion must take leave of the abstract, if only to return to it and to view it differently. Wittgenstein’s thought is too important to ignore in this venture. Full article

This study examines the Thomas/twin motif in the Gospels of John and Thomas, which plays a significant role in each. By analyzing the motif’s meaning, deployment, and development in the two Gospels against Mesopotamian models, this study brings a fresh perspective to the much-debated topic of the Gospel of Thomas’s place of origin. This study demonstrates that Thomas betrays a knowledge of cuneiform polyvalence and argues that this corroborates the historical tradition that it originated in Mesopotamia. The findings also support the claim that the work is theologically sophisticated despite its disarming surface appearance. Similarly, Mesopotamian hermeneutics shed light on some enigmas of the Fourth Gospel’s symbolism, esotericism, and theology conveyed in the rhetorical and symbolic role of Thomas called Didymos. This study concludes that, in both Gospels, the figure of Thomas/twin is paradigmatic for every adherent of Jesus, but the Gospels have drawn on Mesopotamian sources in different ways. Full article

Discussions of Philippians 2:6–11 consider whether it is intended kerygmatically or ethically. Kerygmatic proponents consider that Paul inserted an early hymn to narrate the story of Christ’s coming and his exaltation to encourage the worship of Christ. Ethical readers argue that the hymn aims to shape readers’ ethical posture. Others argue that both ideas are in play. This essay argues that the passage has kerygmatic power. It declares the story of Christ’s coming, self-emptying and humbling, incarnation, death, exaltation, and cosmic lordship. However, it also presents Christ as the ultimate ethical paradigm. It argues, however, that the “ethical” reading is reductionistic unless explained in the direction of social relationships (socioethically) and mission (missioethically). The passage’s missional power is then clarified. First, the broader context in the first century is missional and evangelistic. Second, the “fabric” of the letter urges engagement in gospel proclamation. Third, the movement of the passage is missional, and it succinctly proclaims the gospel of Christ. Fourth, the purpose of Christ’s exaltation is universal submission supposing the proclamation of his lordship. Finally, the hymn climaxes with worship, the end goal of all missions. As such, the hymn should be read through a missional and evangelistic lens as it invites readers to participate in God’s goal of universal submission to Jesus Christ as Lord. Full article

While understandings of Johannine Christianity have been many and varied, single-issue analyses no longer suffice. Things were more complex than simply inferring that synagogue-Johannine tensions, pneumatizing Gnostics, heretical secessionists, or Petrine ecclesiasts was the lone issue. Nor is a two-level reading of the Johannine narrative plausible, as there is no evidence of alien material underlying John’s story of Jesus. Thus, the early, middle, and later phases of the Johannine tradition must be taken into consideration, as an autonomous memory of Jesus is best seen as developing in a first edition, which was finalized later by the Johannine Elder after writing the Epistles. Within that perspective, Social Identity Complexity Theory is well applied as a means of understanding a number of partners in dialogue within the Johannine Situation, including the stances of Jesus remembered by the Fourth Evangelist and Johannine Elder, who addressed no fewer than seven crises over seven decades within the cosmopolitan Johannine Situation. Full article

The Gospel of John, without having its own liturgical year, is typically assumed to have a supplemental homiletical role in the Revised Common Lectionary, and yet the Fourth Gospel is the designated Gospel reading for the festival Sundays of Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and Easter season. As a result, the theological themes of the Fourth Gospel anchor the church’s Trinitarian confessions and doctrinal imagination when it comes to preaching. In particular, as the assigned Gospel for the Sundays of Easter, the Gospel of John shapes resurrection proclamation. Resurrection proclamation, therefore, is animated by Jesus’ final words to his disciples found in the Farewell Discourse (John 14–17), where Jesus interprets his own ministry, commissions his disciples, testifies to the Paraclete, and prays for his followers. This essay will explore how the viewpoint of Jesus’ departing declarations makes a difference for preaching the resurrection. Through the lens of the Farewell Discourse, the promise of the resurrection takes on thematic issues that give important meaning to Jesus’ own revelation, “I am the resurrection and the life”. Full article

This article is dedicated to the loving memory of Bénézet Bujo and Laurenti Magesa, two giants of African Theology. The portrait of the Jews in John’s Gospel has been the object of a great debate among Western scholars. The negative portrait of many of the Jews of the fourth canonical gospel has led some to qualify John’s Gospel as the most “anti-Jewish” writing of the New Testament. Recent Western history, in particular the Shoah, has certainly had a heavy weight on this negative interpretation of John’s Gospel. But another perspective, here African Biblical Hermeneutics, may give a different understanding of this disputed theme. Following this non-Western approach, we want to show that maybe it is not John’s Gospel’s characterization of the Jews which is problematic, but the hermeneutics used to interpret it. In the end, what is at stake, is not the Jews or Jewish people as such, but how one, Jew or non-Jew, responds to Jesus’ message and gift of abundant life. Full article

There are at least four traumatic events that likely lie behind the Gospel of John: (1) Jesus’ death and inaccessibility, (2) the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, (3) the Johannine community’s excommunication from the synagogue, and (4) the loss of the Beloved Disciple. Evidence of all of these traumas can be found in the Gospel itself and, as extant, the Gospel exhibits a number of strategies for addressing these experiences of suffering. Working from Gaston Bachelard’s observations regarding literature produced in response to suffering, this paper outlines the textual evidence for each of these experiences of suffering, notes the responses to them that the Gospel displays, and seeks briefly to evaluate the responses for the TYPOI (patterns/examples/warnings) they provide. In short, the Fourth Gospel employs psychologically attractive, compensatory responses to experiences of loss. However, it deploys in parallel a toxic cocktail of anti-Jewish polemic, condemnation of “the world”, and self-protective, sectarian insularity. Regarding whether the text’s trauma response can be viewed as exemplary for ethically-minded Christians, Desmond Tutu’s 2009 statement, “there are certain parts [of the Bible] which you have to say no to”, is directly applicable, while the warning the text’s example suggests is significant. Full article

The spirituality of Jesus, embedded within the literary contours of the Johannine narrative, is primarily grounded in a relationship of affiliation and friendship. It is a spirituality of abiding whose origins and goal lie in the unity of heart and mind that the Johannine Jesus as Son shares with the Father. This core relationship connotes not only the love that binds Jesus to God but is also the basis of the motif of sending and the divine authority over life and death which Jesus possesses in this Gospel. Jesus’ spirituality is grounded in the abiding presence of the Spirit-Paraclete whom he bequeaths to the disciples. In handing over the Spirit to the gathered community through his death and resurrection, Jesus donates his own spirituality, ultimately drawing all creation into the divine circle of love. This spirituality is the result of the Spirit’s presence, restoring human beings to their original, created identity as children and friends of God and empowering them for mission. While the dominant imagery is masculine there are also feminine images, particularly that of divine Wisdom, which provide a counterbalance and create an inclusive sense of appropriation and welcome. Full article

The Gospel of John is considered as one of the significant literary masterpieces that appeals to Indian spirituality and ideals in multifarious ways. The Gospel has unique features as a universalistic rhetoric that encompasses feelings and aspirations of Indians. The character of Jesus in the Gospel and His assimilative power to contemporary realities reverberate the situational aspects of Indian communities. In the current article, first of all, an attempt is made to explore the character of Jesus and the impression of the Johannine spirituality in relation to Indian realities. We also attempt to place the Fourth Gospel in Indian context in order to derive an interpretative dynamism that takes into account both the Jesus of John and the diverse religious and cultural aspects of today’s context. The character of Jesus and the spirituality reflected in John have much in common with the mystical traditions of the Indian religions. Full article