This collection of essays on the Gospel of John, chapters 7 and 8, written by an international group of leading scholars, explores the central theological and literary themes of these chapters, their setting at the festival of Booths, and the reception history of the hostile references to Jews in these chapters.
The contributions in this volume from the Colloquium Ioanneum 2023 in Vienna present historical, literary, and theological issues related to John 7 and 8. These two chapters play a pivotal role in John: Jesus appears at the festival of Booths in Jerusalem and is rejected, fulfilling the rejection of Wisdom in some early Jewish wisdom literature. The themes discussed include the role of these two chapters in the structure and plot of the Gospel, the relevance of the festival of Booths, the characterization of Jesus and his opponents, ethical interpretation and the reception history of these chapters. The topics stand at the center of current debates about the interpretation of Johannine theology and ethics, and their role in scholarship, culture, and the church today.
Table of contents:
Michael Theobald: Von der »Offenbarung« der Weisheit Gottes auf Erden. Zur Struktur, Genese und Bauplan von Johannes 7 und 8 -
Michael Labahn: Raum und Raumwechsel in Johannes 7-8. Johanneische Theologie in Bewegungsbildern der Erzählung und den Worten ihrer Handlungsträger -
Marianne Meye Thompson: King, Temple, Prophet, and Law: The Festival of Booths and Messianism in John 7 and 8 -
R. Alan Culpepper: Framing Jesus: Characterization and Christology in John 7 and 8 -
Christos Karakolis: Jesus' Interlocutors in John 7 and 8: A Close Reading -
D. Francois Tolmie: Did Jesus Lie? Insights from the History of Reception of John 7:6-10 -
Jan G. van der Watt: »I Speak These Things as the Father Instructed Me« (John 8:28): Jesus as Teacher in John 7 and 8 -
Alicia D. Myers: Whose Attendants (Ὑπηρέται)? Overlooked Characters and Questions of Allegiance in John 7:25-52 -
Jörg Frey: »Rivers of Living Water out of His Belly« (John 7:38): On the Structure, Background, and Theological Relevance of an Enigmatic Saying -
Christina Hoegen-Rohls: The Reception of John 7:53-8:11 in Otfrid von Weissenburg's Liber evangeliorum (9th century) -
Catrin H. Williams: Abraham and His Works in John 8 -
William R. G. Loader: Rationalising Rejection in John 8 and Elsewhere in the Fourth Gospel -
Udo Schnelle: Die befreiende Wahrheit des Logos (Joh 8:30-47) -
Craig R. Koester: »You Are of Your Father the Devil« (John 8:44): Ethical Interpretation in Light of the Text's Reception History and 1 John -
Kasper Bro Larsen: The Gospel of John in the Third Reich: Anti-Semitic Bible Adaptation in Die Botschaft Gottes (1940) and Its Predecessors.
