Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Johannine community'

This dissertation explores the potential for utilizing Jurgen Habermas’ Theory of Communicative Action (TCA) as a hermeneutical method in biblical studies—in this case—Johannine agency and mission. The thesis is developed by means of TCA and four “contextual anchor points.” These components of critical and literary theory are used in a sequential argument to examine the thesis: The Johannine community was portrayed by John as divine communicative action to the world. After a brief introduction, chapter two discusses TCA, differentiating its relevant aspects from those unsuitable. An examination of the intertextual interface between John and his readership is performed in chapter three. Chapter four analyzes John’s call for unity in the face of cosmic brokenness and division over Jesus. Though John portrays a closed κόσμος, opposed to its creator, he demonstrates openness, showing interest in gathering exiles. Unity is for the sake of the world (13:35; 17:21, 23). Chapter four discusses the possibility that the AD 70 loss of the temple was John’s motivation for communicative action to his fellow “Jews.” Chapter five examines re-creation. Humanity separated from its creator was incapable of communicative reason. Jesus therefore served as God’s communicative act and Tatwort (deed-word, sign) to set it free. Chapter six concerns the mediatorial role of the παράκλητος. Central to John’s eschatology was the continued presence of Messiah through the Spirit. The παράκλητος was the communicative glue of the Johannine community, mediating communicative action to the world. Chapter seven concludes the study, demonstrating the community was a provocateur of life and judgment, gathering those who responded to communicative action and relinquishing others to judgment. The community’s oneness served as a Tatwort (deed-word) to the κόσμος. Their words and deed-words served as divine communicative action to re-create the world.

This dissertation examines John 13: 1-20, the pericope which describes Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. For a variety of reasons, there is no scholarly consensus concerning the meaning of this passage. In addition, very little reflection has been devoted to the place religious footwashing may have held in the Johannine community. This dissertation reexamines the fundamental issues raised by the passage and investigates the likelihood that footwashing was a community rite. Chapter one gives an overview of the prominent interpretations of John 13: 1-20 in the history of interpretation. This chapter also presents an elaboration of the dissertation's purpose, together with a preview of and justification for the methodology employed, which includes text-critical, background-historical, literary-exegetical, and historical-reconstructive components. In view of the decisive bearing on interpretation, the textual problem found in John 13: 10 receives considerable attention in chapter two. Here a decision is made in favor of the inclusion of the longer reading, because of superior external evidence and internal probability. In chapter three a survey of the practice of footwashing in Jewish and Graeco-Roman antiquity uncovers first-century attitudes to footwashing, which in turn leads to a more informed interpretation of footwashing's significance in John 13. The survey reveals that footwashing functioned as an act of hospitality, an expression of love, a sign of servitude, and a sign of preparation generally. Chapter four is devoted to a literary and exegetical analysis of the text of John 13: 1-20. This investigation indicates the pericope's literary context within the Fourth Gospel, as the first episode in both the "Book of Glory" (John 13-21) and the farewell materials (John 13-17). The role of the disciples in the preceding narrative (John 1-12) is also explored. An exegetical study follows, which seeks to interpret the text of John 13: 1-20 as it now stands in the Fourth Gospel. The analysis finds that the footwashing of John 13 is best understood as a sign for the forgiveness of the disciples' post-conversion sin. The analysis concludes with reflection scholarly discussion about the literary unity of the footwashing pericope. The evidence which makes likely that the Johannine community engaged in footwashing as a religious rite is explored in chapter five. This examination utilizes information from the implied readers in the Fourth Gospel, from actual readers of the Fourth Gospel in the early church, and from the practice of footwashing in early Christianity. An examination of similar categories of evidence suggests that footwashing signified the forgiveness of post-conversion sin for the Johannine community. The final section of the dissertation is devoted to a set of conclusions and suggestions for future research.

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Esta tese tem como objetivo demonstrar que o conflito existente na comunidade joanina e presente no texto é uma estratégia literária do autor para construir identidade e fortalecer a fé dos seus leitores. Para isso escolhi uma perícope (Jo 8,31-59) onde verifico e comprovo essa dinâmica. O texto é produto literário, tem lógica: início, fim, coesão. É também produto relacional, responde a uma lógica redacional. O autor é o protagonista do texto e nele revela sua teologia. Busco entender sua vida e tudo dele para saber do seu texto. O texto é reflexo de uma realidade nas formas de expressão que é redigido. Há muitos conflitos no texto. Para entender o conflito devo olhar a partir de sua complexidade literária. Do conflito à revelação da verdade que liberta da incredulidade, do medo, da insegurança, da ideologia que escraviza, do mal que impede acolher Jesus, o Messias e Filho de Deus.(AU)

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This research aims to investigate the Kingdom of God and the world under the bias of the Johannine community from Jo 18:36 exegesis. The objective is to demonstrate that, from the discourse of Jesus on his kingdom, recorded in John 18:36, the Johannine community is a heterotopic construction both in relation to incipient rabbinic Judaism as to the Roman Empire in first century. For thus, the study was divided into three chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the Fourth Gospel, with emphasis on the Johannine community history and its Christology. The second chapter is an exploratory journey to the cosmos and the basileia from John 18:36. In the third chapter, the heterotopic aspects of the Johannine community are analyzed in relation to the world, based on the theoretical framework of Foucault. In this way, it can be shown that the Kingdom of God promotes heterotopias over time and societies, making it clear, the achievement of a critical space in relation to its world in the Johannine community, that is, a space of decisions and resignifications, capable of breaking socio-religious paradigms and change existing power relations.
Esta pesquisa se propõe a investigar o Reino de Deus e o mundo sob o viés da comunidade joanina a partir da exegese de Jo 18,36. Objetiva-se demonstrar que, a partir do discurso de Jesus sobre o seu Reino, registrado em Jo 18,36, a comunidade joanina é uma construção heterotópica tanto em relação ao incipiente judaísmo rabínico quanto ao Império Romano do século I. Para tanto, o estudo foi dividido em três capítulos. O primeiro capítulo é uma introdução ao Quarto Evangelho, com ênfase na história da comunidade joanina e sua cristologia. O segundo é uma jornada onde explora-se o cosmos e a basileia a partir de Jo 18,36. No terceiro, os aspectos heterotópicos da comunidade joanina são analisados em relação ao mundo, com base no referencial teórico de Foucault. Nesse percurso, é possível demonstrar que o Reino de Deus promove heterotopias ao longo dos tempos e das sociedades, explicitando, na comunidade joanina, a concretização de um espaço crítico em relação ao seu mundo, ou seja, um espaço de decisões e ressignificações, capaz de romper com paradigmas sócio-religiosos e alterar as relações de poder existentes.

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A presente dissertação objetiva demonstrar as causas do conflito da comunidade joanina na segunda metade do século I, bem como revelar as estratégias de releitura da história de Jesus a partir do prisma do autor do QE para combater os inimigos da comunidade, assegurar-lhes a fé, fortalecer os perseguidos e duvidosos e formar uma cristologia solidificada em um pensamento soteriológico quanto a pessoa de Jesus como Messias. Para tanto pretende-se analisar a pluralidade sociopolítica e religiosa da Palestina no século I, demonstrando como o meio influenciou a escolha do autor do QE ao redigir um texto de forma a fazer uma releitura da vida de Jesus em defesa da fé de sua comunidade. Também serão estudadas as vozes em conflito dentro do texto e as vozes discordantes que cercam a perícope, buscando entendê-las a partir do texto do QE, pois este é o elemento mais palpável de que dispomos para o estudo dos conflitos e motivos que geraram esse evangelho. Para melhor expor e entender o argumento de defesa do autor que representa a comunidade joanina, será desenvolvido um estudo sobre o uso dos verbos pe,mpw e avposte,llw no texto do QE, especialmente no capítulo 7, com o intuito de mostrar como o autor entendia este Jesus Messias e como isto moldou sua teologia.

Chapter 9, interpreted in terms of its macro-micro structure, fits into the overall literary and theological framework of the Book of Signs. The controversy between Jesus and the Jewish leaders depicted in chapters 7-10 is taken up by Chapter 9 in a particular manner. This study employs the socio-rhetorical perspective to critically investigate the notion of discipleship. It differs from previous studies as they were undertaken from the historical, socio-scientific and narrative perspectives, and Robbins' sociorhetorical methodology is applied to the Chapter 9 in order to dissect the notion of discipleship as a theological problem. In Chapter 9, the blind man emerges as the paradigm of the disciple as he exemplifies the principle of John 8.12. The `Jews', concerned with their need both for self-definition and the survival of Judaism, attempt to contain the growth of Christianity. The conflict is conceived as a `conflict between darkness and light' and the healed man emerges as a hero of the community. His triumph over darkness contrasts him with the Pharisees who misguidedly follow the way of darkness and reject God's self-revelation. To summarize, by applying for the first time a multidimensional and comprehensive approach to John 9, three important characteristics of discipleship in the Fourth Gospel emerge: (1) it is not just simple enthusiasm and zeal, but rather a firm commitment, and strong and courageous determination to bear witness based upon an experience of the divine. Disciples are required to maintain their readiness for struggles, even death, for the sake of their faith; (2) discipleship is conceived as redefining the believer's covenant relationship with God which takes place through Jesus' identity and work. Therefore, the notion of `disciples of Moses' is no longer defensible; (3) discipleship is nothing less than a `discipleship into light' since it implies a duty to plead everywhere and always the cause of the Light in the sphere of darkness and in the world dominated by many kinds of ideologies (religious, cultural, political, etc.). The disciple must be prepared to be marginalized, not only by the dominant society, but also by his/her own family and familiar world.
NEW TESTAMENT
DTH (NEW TESTAMENT)

In recent decades, most scholars have understood the Gospel of John and three letters of John as a mirror to the so-called "Johannine community"/"Johannine Christianity", whose existence is usually derived from literary and compositional aspects of Johannine corpus. In the following study I am arguing that in order for the term Johannine Christianity to be relevant and meaningful for the study of early Christianity and New Testament literature, we cannot focus on literary aspects of Johannine corpus but on a comparative work and define the term through the internal structure of religion. To be a historically relevant term, the term Johannine Christianity, therefore has to bear, in the context of the New Testament and early Christianity, distinctive doctrine, ritual practices, and institution. In the first part of this paper, I am dealing with literary and stylistic aspects of the Johannine corpus (authorship of gospel and letters, genre and 21st chapter of John's gospel, the beloved disciple, etc.) and arguing that these aspects are not a definite proof of the existence of so- called Johannine community. In the second part, I am arguing that theology, ritual practices, and institutions we find in Johannine corpus, are typical for mainstream Christianity of 1. and 2. century and therefore terms "Johannine...

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 292-313) : illustrations
This thesis examines the Experience of God in the Fourth Gospel (in this research, it is also called the Johannine Experience of God) by perceiving it from the perspective of the metaphoric Familia Dei, found in this Gospel. This examination is done in a three-step process: The first step consists of a literary review and a presentation of the methodology and approach employed in this research. It intends to set the thesis within the Johannine studies. The second step involves the articulation of essential considerations on Religious Experience, the Johannine Community, and the Fourth Gospel. This articulation has two aims: First, to acquire a deeper understanding of the background of the Johannine Experience of God, and second, to point out the functionality of this Gospel’s narrative in constituting this experience. The third step comprises the following suggestion and the elaboration on its constituents: - The Johannine Experience of God consists of two components: the first one is the initiative of God the Father conveyed by Jesus Christ, perpetuated by the Holy Spirit, and as it is recorded in the Fourth Gospel. And the second one is the response of the believers (John’s readers) to this initiative by accepting the Son and journeying spiritually under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. - The Johannine Experience of God can be perceived from the perspective of the Familia Dei metaphoric found in the Fourth Gospel. - The narrative of the Fourth Gospel has the ability to constitute an experience of God and accordingly creates spirituality, once it is read or heard. This thesis aims to generate a deeper understanding of the spirituality of the Fourth Gospel at one level, and to offer an acceptable general insight about the Johannine Spirituality at another, hoping that its findings become an inspiration for future studies.
Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology
D. Th. (Christian spirituality)

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has provided an opportunity to reexamine the formation of the Gospel of John. This study will utilize Dead Sea finds coupled with other Second Temple literature to examine how the Gospel of John portrays Jesus as being a king. The approach of this study to use a narrative approach that builds on the Gospel of John as a finished text. The contribution of a source critical approach is not disparaged but the narrative approach will allow the Johannine community to be seen in the context of the immediate post-Second Temple era. The limited literacy of the probable first audience of this text suggests that a narrative approach will best be able to understand the background to the formation of the Gospel of John. A central contention of this study is that the Gospel of John was composed after the Jewish Revolt and after the Synoptics. Thus it deserves the appellation of the Fourth Gospel and is called such in this study. The Fourth Gospel was composed at a time when Roman interest in anything connected to Judaism was sure to attract special interest. Thus the portrayal of Jesus as the Davidic Messiah needed to be handled carefully. The imagery of the new David found in 4Q504 compared with the imagery of Jesus being the Good Shepherd becomes an important part of the argument of this study on whether this Gospel portrays Jesus as being the Davidic Messiah. Jesus as the Good Shepherd showed Jews that Jesus is the Davidic Messiah without overtly offending Roman sensibilities. Furthermore evidence from Christian and Jewish sources indicates that an interest in a Third Temple was still stirring between the Jewish and Bar-Kochba Revolts. The Fourth Gospel shows Jesus as the Davidic Messiah who replaces the Temple because the Good Shepherd was the perfect sacrifice.
New Testament
D. Th. (New Testament)

This study investigates, via the socio-rhetorical approach, how the Jewish-Christian conflict that occurred during the formative period of early Christianity, and the environment contemporary to the writing of John, took shape around three main questions to which the researcher's answers are given. The event described in John 9 is an historical and significant illustration of the conflict. Jesus is shown rhetorically, by the writer, as the Son of Man, in whom "divine reality" operates away from the temple or other traditionally sacred places like the synagogue, and finds a new locality in the persona of Jesus himself. From a polemical view, John endeavours to portray Jesus as holy man, the only one to mediate heavenly and earthly realities, and that is why Jesus is presented as the real locus of the encounter between God and human beings, a locus of the divine presence, or "the conduit for the transmission of the divine."
New Testament
MTH (NEW TESTAMENT)

The subject and the scope of this study are the role(s) of the Spirit-Paraclete in John 16:4b-15. The methodology applied is socio-rhetorical criticism as developed by Vernon K. Robbins. The fourth Gospel is called the `spiritual Gospel.' Its pneumatic connotations are not only related to its presentation of Christ but also to its frequent references to the Spirit and its cognates. Jesus' Spirit-Paraclete teaching in his Farewell Discourse is a prominent example of this. Its pneumatological content is, however, problematic. This is demonstrated by the various attempts of Johannine scholars. In addition, methodologies, goals and the scope of these studies vary. It was observed that if scholars suggest a role for the Spirit-Paraclete, they usually use `either-or' language, pointing out one role while excluding other possible roles from their conclusions or merely list explicitly mentioned functions of the Spirit-Paraclete. This study is a response to this present situation. It deals with the last two Spirit-Paraclete sayings of Jesus in his farewell address to determine the role(s) of the Spirit-Paraclete, applying the comprehensive reading model which has not been applied to this text before. The hypothesis was that if a more comprehensive methodology is applied to the narrative, a more comprehensive understanding of the text would be gained. We applied multidisciplinary socio-rhetorical criticism which takes into account narrative-rhetorical, intertextual, social-cultural, ideological and sacred aspects of the text while not neglecting contexts in which the story took place, was recorded and is interpreted. Findings were that the roles of the Spirit-Paraclete go beyond mere theological and spiritual significance to touch sociological and psychological aspects of human experience. Thus, the roles of the Spirit-Paraclete are multidimensional. These roles are also integrated with each other. Together they support and point to one major role of the Spirit-Paraclete, which does not, however, downplay his other roles. The central role of the Spirit-Paraclete in John 16:4b-15 is to be the divine presence who forms a performing community of the disciples called the people of the Spirit.
New Testament
D. Th. (New Testament)

The present thesis explores the Spirituality of following Jesus according to the Fourth Gospel by investigating the whole profile of the term akoloutheo. In particular, this thesis probes what theological implications are communicated by the association of akoloutheo with correlated motifs in the pericopes where it is employed in spiritual connotation. The texts investigated are: John 1:35-51; 8:12; 10:1-42; 12:26; 13:36-14:3; 21:1-19. Each text communicates the particular and manifold aspects of the Spirituality of following Jesus. Yet, the most distinctive aspects of the Johannine Spirituality of following Jesus imparted throughout almost all the research texts can be summarized by “directional” and “relational.” The life of following Jesus is a journey toward a destination to which Jesus leads his followers, that is, into a relationship with the Father by being with Jesus where he is, and by being with him where he goes and will be in glory. It is ultimately participating in the Son’s communion with the Father. Jesus, who was with the Father and in the bosom of the Father, came down (descended) to bring his followers to the Father, and ascends to the Father taking them with him, so they may be with him where he is with the Father in love and glory.
Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology
D.Th. (Christian Spirituality)