Wong, Chi Hong (2024) Rewriting Torah in the Fourth Gospel: with particular reference to scriptural interpretation in the Prologue. Masters thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
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Wong, Chi Hong (2024) MRes Rewriting Torah in the Fourth Gospel.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
This dissertation aims to study some of the ways in which the Gospel of John uses the Jewish Scriptures, particularly the Law of Moses (Torah), in its presentation of Jesus. In addition to drawing attention to the testimony of Scripture (5:39) and to what Moses wrote about Jesus (5:45), the Gospel employs many scriptural quotations as well as allusions, motifs and symbols drawn from the Torah in its narrative about Jesus. This aim of this dissertation, therefore, is to analyse the function of these ‘Torah’ elements in the Johannine narrative and to explore how they contribute to our understanding of the reception of the Jewish Scriptures in the Gospel of John in relation to its Christological concerns. Based on recent research on Second Temple Jewish literature, this study will argue in particular that the Gospel of John and certain Rewritten Scripture compositions share many hermeneutical strategies and exegetical techniques. The books of Jubilees, Genesis Apocryphon and Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum (LAB), it is proposed, provide valuable parallels to the Fourth Gospel in respect of its wide-ranging scriptural interpretation. The second half of the dissertation focuses on the various strategies and techniques of scriptural interpretation that are attested in the Johannine Prologue. In John 1:1–18, the Fourth Evangelist employs the symbols of Logos and light, drawn primarily from Genesis 1 as well as Jewish Wisdom traditions, to characterize Jesus as a pre-existent and divine figure. In addition, the evocation of Exodus traditions in the Prologue’s references to Jesus as the embodiment of God’s glory (1:14) are designed to persuade the audience that Jesus Christ, the Logos incarnate, is the unique revelation of God in the world. This study therefore attends to the exegetical methods and rhetorical impact of the v interpretation of the Jewish scriptures that are identifiable in the Gospel of John, particularly in its opening Prologue. Like many Rewritten Scripture texts, the literary devices of expansion, omission, and embellishment in the Prologue’s engagement with Scripture provide significant hints for tracing the exegetical motivations and rhetorical purposes that lie behind the composition of the Johannine narrative. We therefore explore how John prepares his ‘we’ community (1:14) for the fulfilment of God’s promises and to demonstrate how the testimony of Scripture aligns with the inclusion of believers as the children of God (1:12).
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion |
| Divisions: | Theses and Dissertations > Masters Dissertations |
| Depositing User: | Natalie Williams |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Jul 2024 12:59 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Jul 2024 12:59 |
| URI: | https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/3063 |
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