Date of Award

Fall 9-5-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Theology

First Advisor

Christopher Skinner

Abstract

This project aims to reconsider the Fourth Gospel’s Beloved Disciple from the standpoint of biblical performance criticism, an approach that takes seriously the likelihood that most first-century audiences would have encountered the Fourth Gospel by means of performance rather than private reading. The dissertation considers: 1) what difference the medium makes in a first-century reception of John’s Gospel, and 2) how early audiences would have been shaped by the discipleship model portrayed by the unnamed Beloved Disciple in a performance setting. Against the current of mainstream scholarship, I argue that the Beloved Disciple is a developing character who epitomizes Johannine discipleship by continuously remaining near to Jesus and moving toward him (physically and symbolically). Built on two particular rhetorical devices that underpin the telling of the Beloved Disciple’s story—syncrisis and ekphrasis—along with studies in ancient oratory and delivery more broadly, I map a hypothetical performance based on the script of John’s Gospel to discern a plausible interpretation of the Disciple’s story character which highlights his most consistent and conspicuous-in-performance traits: nearness to and movement toward Jesus regardless of the circumstances.

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