Kinship Relations In The Gospel Of John

This monograph examines the relationships between the two "families" of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. The first family is that of the mother, brothers, and sisters of Jesus; the second is the fictive family of the disciples. Using social-scientific criticism, Campbell proposes that the Gospel depicts a sharp division between these families, that is, between the biological family, the brothers and sisters of Jesus (adelphoi), and the discipleship family that includes the mother of Jesus.

This monograph examines the relationships between the two "families" of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. The first family is that of the mother, brothers, and sisters of Jesus; the second is the fictive family of the disciples. Using social-scientific criticism, Campbell proposes that the Gospel depicts a sharp division between these families, that is, between the biological family, the brothers and sisters of Jesus (adelphoi), and the discipleship family that includes the mother of Jesus.

Son of Mary offers new solutions to some persistent exegetical problems in the interpretation of three of the most puzzling passages in the Gospel of John, and does so in a way that illuminates the social-cultural context to the New Testament world. Old Testament resonances are heard here afresh: The miracle at Cana is seen in the light of God's people living without the wine of God's blessing, and Jesus' interaction with his brothers is placed alongside the story of Joseph. Margaret Wesley explores the world of kinship relationships in First Century Palestine, discovering how an understanding of family expectations and obligations can illuminate Jesus' words and actions and guide our relationships within the church as sisters and brothers of one another and as daughters and sons of God. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are understood in a fresh way as the creation of a new family. Margaret demonstrates a mastery of current research while drawing on a wide range of primary patristic sources. She shows a respectful yet firm and assertive spirit when dealing with controversy.

In this book, Sung Uk Lim examines the narrative construction of identity and otherness through ongoing interactions between Jesus and the so-called others as represented by the minor characters in the Gospel of John. This study reconfigures the otherness of the minor characters in order to reconstruct the identity of Jesus beyond the exclusive binary of identity and otherness. The recent trends in Johannine scholarship are deeply entrenched in a dialectical framework of inclusion and exclusion, perpetuating positive portrayals of Jesus and negative portrayals of the minor characters. Read in this light, Jesus is portrayed as a superior, omniscient, and omnipotent character, whereas minor characters are depicted as inferior, uncomprehending, and powerless. At the root of such portrayals lies the belief that the Johannine dualistic Weltanschauung warrants such a sharp differentiation between Jesus and the minor characters. Lim argues, to the contrary, that the multiple constructions of otherness deriving from the minor characters make Jesus’ identity vulnerable to a constant process of transformation. Consequently, John’s minor characters actually challenge and destabilize Johannine hierarchical dualism within a both/and framework.

The command to love is central to the Gospel of John. Internationally respected scholar Francis Moloney offers a thorough exploration of this theme, focusing not only on Jesus's words but also on his actions. Instead of merely telling people that they must love one another, Jesus acts to make God's love known and calls all who follow him to do the same. This capstone work on John's Gospel uses a narrative approach to delve deeply into a theme at the heart of the Fourth Gospel and the life of the Christian church. Uniting rigorous exegesis with theological and pastoral insight, it makes a substantive contribution to contemporary Johannine scholarship.

Johannine Writings and Apocalyptic provides a wide-ranging and thorough annotated bibliography for John's Gospel, the Johannine letters, Revelation, and apocalyptic writings pertinent to these books. More inclusive than many other bibliographies, this volume provides reference to over 1300 individual entries, often including references to multiple works with a given description. Annotations are designed to provide guidance to a wide range of readers, from students wishing to gain entry to the subject to graduate students engaging in research to professors needing ready access to useful materials. The volume is topically organized and indexed for easy access.

This book provides a Latino reading of John’s prologue with special attention to how the themes of race, kinship, and the empire are part of the gospel’s racial rhetoric. By drawing from the insights of Latinx texts and theology, this book reveals how the prologue provides a lens to read the entire gospel with a keen awareness of Jesus’s engagement with people groups—from his own family to the Roman authorities. The prologue participates in the gospel’s racial rhetoric by shaping the reader’s racial imagination even before a person enters the narrative. By doing so, Jesus’s identity becomes constructed and defined through racial rhetoric since the opening verses of John’s gospel.

This volume examines Johannine symbolism within the lens of Jesus' relationship with the Father. After demonstrating that the Gospel narrative symbolically portrays Jesus as the Son of God who is relationally inseparable from his Father, the study shows how the Son-Father Relationship (SFR) is at the center of the network of Christological symbols in the Gospel of John. Using an innovative narrative framework, this book unveils the creative and symbolic introduction of the SFR in the Prologue (Jn. 1. 1-18), its development through the words and actions of Jesus' teaching ministry within the Johannine narrative, and its culmination in the Prayer (Jn. 17); the SFR motif then concludes in the remainder of the Gospel. This narrative framework reveals how the SFR shapes the literary style and theological strategy of the Gospel, and acts as an integrative force by giving structure and cohesion to the Gospel's symbolic system. Two key features presented in this book are a theory of symbolism and a network of symbols. The specially formulated 'Theory of Johannine Symbolism' explains the theoretical and theological underpinnings of the Gospel's symbolic network, called 'John's Christological Symbology'. Through the symbolic network, the author of the Gospel fulfills the theological purpose stated in Jn. 20:31-that hearer-readers believe in Jesus the Christ, as the Son of God, and thereby experience eternal life.