Date of Award
2016
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Theology
Abstract
The Gospel of John contains over 50 instances of direct internal quotation: the direct quotation, at a later point in the story, of a speech act already given in the narrative. John has dozens more cases than any other New Testament book, making it a demonstrably Johannine device. Furthermore, verifiable quotations are rarely exact independently of who is quoting. The present study examines three aspects of John’s use of direct internal quotation in the context of Greco-Roman, Jewish, and other New Testament literature. First, the modifications made to the original speech act are placed in the context of paraphrase, a pedagogical exercise taught to adolescents as part of a standard Greek education. Second, the device itself appears in Greco-Roman trial literature and contributes to the Johannine trial motif. Third, the sayings that are quoted have parallels to pre-Johannine material, which suggests that direct internal quotation is a means for John to incorporate traditional sayings while also allowing the Fourth Gospel to modify them or to refute them. The roles of direct internal quotation are then applied to a thematic subset of these sayings that discuss the various advents of Christ in resurrection, parousia, and in his spiritual advent to the church. This final examination also suggests a theological role for direct internal quotation, grounding new, spiritual revelations in the traditional words of Jesus.
Recommended Citation
Tripp, Jeffrey Michael, "Remember the Word That I Told You: Direct Internal Quotation in the Gospel of John" (2016). Dissertations. 2154.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2154
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2016 Jeffrey Michael Tripp
