Date of Award
8-28-2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Theology
First Advisor
Christopher Skinner
Abstract
This dissertation attempts to read the Prologue to John’s Gospel as midrash with the view to examining a local parting of the ways. It is argued that the midrash technique in the Prologue serves to persuade the audience to perceive itself as a religious other. Through John’s use of the midrash technique in the Prologue, there is an engaged effort to create boundaries and construct a new identity for his community. The choice of vocabulary and theological claims are essential markers of how the author intends to construct a new identity. Using rhetorical analysis, the dissertation claims that the Prologue to John’s Gospel is a persuasive composition meant to persuade the audience to adopt a different worldview. The rhetorical program of the Prologue to John’s Gospel promotes separation between “Judaism” and “Christianity.” Consequently, the rejection language, the replacement theology, the rhetoric of affiliation, and the rhetoric of disaffiliation found throughout the Prologue need to be understood not only through an evaluation of the narrative but also through an assessment of the rhetoric of the Prologue within a contextualized understanding of the Johannine community’s relationship to Judaism in the first century.
Recommended Citation
Mukuna, Joseph, "Reading the Prologue of John's Gospel as Midrash with a View to Examinging a Local Parting of the Ways" (2024). Dissertations. 4135.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/4135
