The present work aims to elucidate the role of the Jewish feasts of Passover, Tabernacles and Dedication in the presentation of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Specifically, I will seek to gain a clearer understanding of John’s appropriation of the symbolic and traditional backgrounds of these feasts by examining pertinent sources from contemporary Judaism and the manner in which John has made use of the traditions preserved therein. Past studies have achieved consensus on certain points of interpretation but overlooked important evidence at other points. Some scholars have also been too quick to cite John’s treatment of the feasts as evidence of his anti-Jewish posture in the Gospel as a whole. In what follows, therefore, I will give particular attention to those background sources which have not been accorded due attention. I will also attempt to situate my study within the wider question of Judaism in the Fourth Gospel and to suggest how the results achieved in the end may bear upon ongoing debates on this matter.

The Christian canon comprises of sixty six book. Of these the majority, thirty nine to be precise, stem from the Jewish religion. These books, comprising the Hebrew Bible direct or guide the adherents of Judaism till today. Christians consider the Hebrew Bible as the Old Testament in the light of a new revelation in Jesus Christ. This thesis questions the last premise, firstly in the light that Messianic Jews or present day Jewish Christians, also still adhere to their heritage as stemming from the Old Testament. Secondly, it should be noted that due to missionary influence both the Old Testament (Hebrew) culture and African culture were discarded. In the light of so many correlations between the Old Testament values and culture and African values and culture I set out to trace whether there is more to the Old Testament than the deductions we, Africans, have inherited from the Western minds down the centuries, as we in the process could have tapped into their (unconscious?) anti-Jewish motivations. As a start in this wide field, I focus on the three pilgrimage festivals, Passover, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles, prescribed in the Old Testament. I go back in history, through the eyes of Messianic Jews, to learn about the celebrations and interpretations that surround these festivals. Once I have gained that insight I contrast it with the general Christian interpretations and celebrations and where there is room for implementation of Messianic Jewish insight I put these forward towards liturgical enrichment and worship enhancement in the Lutheran Church. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.