Ecclesiology and Theosis in the Gospel of John

Description

For the fourth evangelist, there is neither a Christless church nor a churchless Christ. Though John’s Gospel has been widely understood as ambivalent towards the idea of ‘church’, this book argues that ecclesiology is as central a Johannine concern as christology. Rather than focusing on the community behind the text, attention is directed to the vision of community prescribed within the text. This vision is presented as a ‘narrative ecclesiology’ by which the concept of ‘church’ gradually unfolds throughout the Gospel’s sequence. The theme of oneness functions within this script and draws on the Jewish theological language of the Shema. To be ‘one’ with this ‘one God’ and his ‘one Shepherd’ involves the believers’ corporate participation within the divine family. Such participation requires an ontological transformation that warrants an ecclesial identity expressed by the bold assertion found in Jesus’ citation of Psalm 82: ‘you are gods’. Preface page xiii Acknowledgments xiv Introduction 1 1. The Johannine Vision of Community: Trends, Approaches, and ‘Narrative Ecclesiology’ 3 The Empty Search for a Formal Ecclesiology: Johannine Individualism and (Anti-)Institutionalism 5 Ecclesiology as Aetiology: Historical Reconstructions of the Johannine Community 8 ‘Christocentricity’: The Eclipse of Ecclesiology by Christology 12 Ecclesiology as Sectarianism: The Relationship between Sociology and Theology 15 ‘Narrative Ecclesiology’: Gospel Writing as Group Identity Formation 19 Brief Overview of the Work’s Structure 22 Part I The Narrative Ecclesiology of the Prologue: No Churchless Christ, nor Christless Church 25 2. The Inclusive Divine Community: The Prologue’s Reinterpretation of God and God’s People 27 Introduction to Part I 27 The Prologue’s Relationship to the Rest of the Gospel 28 Reconceiving God: The Communal Vision of ‘Dyadic Theology’ (John 1:1–2, 18) 30 Reconceiving God’s People: Foundations of a Participatory Ecclesiology (John 1:3b–4; 9–18) 37 Chapter Summary 48 3. The Ecclesiology of Filiation and the Incarnation 49 The Ecclesiology of Divine–Human Filiation: Disambiguation and Intercalation 49 The Ecclesiology of the Incarnation: Divine–Human Exchange and the Paired ‘Becomings’ (John 1:12–14) 60 Chapter Summary 71 4. Characterizing the Prologue’s Ecclesiology: The Ambiguation and Assimilation of John the Baptist 72 John the Baptist as Christological Witness in the Prologue 72 Ambiguation in the Identity and Voice of John the Baptist 74 Christological Witness and Ecclesial Confession: John as a Representative of Both Israel and Johannine Christianity 78 John the Baptist as Ecclesial Catalyst 80 Summary of the Baptist’s Ecclesial Function 81 5. The Prologue’s ‘Ecclesial Narrative Script’: Ecclesiology as Story Arc 82 The Plotline of Resocialization: A Survey of the Ecclesial Narrative Script 84 Three Case Studies Demonstrating the Ecclesial Narrative Script 87 The Shepherd Discourse as Parabolic Explanation of the Ecclesial Narrative Script (John 10:1–18) 95 A Narrative Ecclesiology of Divine Participation: Chapter Summary and Conclusion to Part I 101 Part II The Narrative Ecclesiology of the Shema: A Reappraisal of the Johannine Oneness Motif 103 6. The Shema as the Foundation for John’s Theological Use of ‘One’: Identifying and Addressing Reservations 105 Introduction to Part II 105 The Shema and the Gospel of John: The State of the Question 108 The Shema in Early Jewish Religious Life: The Evangelist’s Potential Awareness of Deuteronomy 6:4 110 Other Possible Reservations in Accepting the Shema’s Influence on John 116 Chapter Summary 7. The Shema, John 17, and Jewish-Christian Identity: Oneness in Narrative Development 129 Tracing the Narrative Development of ‘One’ in John 8–11: The Alternation between Oneness from Deuteronomy 6:4 and from Ezekiel 34 and 37 129 Jesus Prays the Shema: Oneness as Social Identity Construction in John 17 143 A Narrative Ecclesiology of Divine Association: Chapter Summary and Conclusion to Part II 150 Part III John’s Narrative Ecclesiology of Participation and Deification 153 8. The Fourth Gospel and Deification in Patristic Writings 155 Introduction to Part III 155 Deification as ‘Foreground’ for the Fourth Gospel 157 The Fourth Gospel as a Background for Patristic Deification 160 Chapter Summary 167 9. Johannine Theosis: Deification as Ecclesiology 169 The Nature of Johannine Theosis: Jewish, Narrative, and Communal 169 Boundaries within the Inclusive Divine Community 180 The Prologue as a Deification Text 183 Oneness as Deification: Narrative Ecclesiology in Psalm 82 and John 17 186 An Ecclesiology of Deification: Chapter Summary 199 10. Characterizing Johannine Theosis: Divinized Characters within the Narrative 200 Theosis and the Ecclesial Narrative Script: The Prologue as the Frame for Johannine Characterization 201 Reciprocity Statements and Inclusive Parallels: Mimesis as Theosis 202 The Man Born Blind: Ἐγώ Εἰμι 206 Peter and the Beloved Disciple: Ecclesial Conflict or Ecclesial Vision? 213 11. Narrative Pneumatology and Triadic Theology: The Spirit-Paraclete as the Character Who Divinizes Beyond the Narrative 224 Narrative Pneumatology: The Spirit-Paraclete as a Johannine Character 226 The Spirit-Paraclete and the Triadic Divine Identity 229 Narrative Pneumatology and Johannine Ecclesiology: The Spirit-Paraclete as Source and Agent of Corporate Deification 232 Chapter Summary 234 Conclusion 235 12. John’s Narrative Ecclesiology of Deification: A Synthesis 237 Eleven Summary Statements on Johannine Ecclesiology 238 Questions for Further Reflection (and Implications for Biblical Studies, Theology, and Ecumenism) 242 Bibliography 244 Index of Subjects 266 Index of Modern Authors 269 Index of Ancient Texts 271