Thesis advisor: David W. Jorgensen / Thesis advisor: Matthew S. Monnig / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

In chapter one of this work, as a preliminary to the formulation of the question that this thesis will attempt to answer, the changing understanding of the part played by the interpreter in the process of interpretation is discussed. This outline begins with the understanding of the role of the interpreter in liberal theology - where he is thought of as one who applies critical methods to the text in a detached and scientific way. After this the hermeneutic spiral is discussed - the formation of this model acknowledges to a greater degree the individual and human part played by the interpreter. This is followed by a brief examination of the most recent theories of interpretation in which meaning is regarded as residing not in the text but in the interpreter himself. The task of this thesis is to determine whether, as these recent theorists suggest, the reader creates meaning instead of reading out what somehow lies in the text itself. The task of this thesis is to ascertain, by studying the interpretationsof John's Prologue by Origen, Luther and Bultmann, whether the text does in fact operate as a series of sign-posts that pOint the interpreter to a destination within his own semantic universe. This may be determined by noting whether or not the contexts, i n the broadest sense, of these interpreters have played a formative part in their interpretations. contextual influences are regarded as existing wherever there is a procedure or meaning in the interpreter's commentary which one expe cts to find there as a result of one's knowledge of the interpreter's life and previous writings. Our research reveals that Orige n, Luther and Bultmann have produced three very different commentaries in which the common denominator is the formative influence of the interpreter's context. Each of these writers has produced an interpretation that is consistent, in both approach and theology, with their previous exegetical and theological thought. This indicates that contextual factors have played a significant part in determining their interpr etations of John 1 :1-18. It would appear that these interpreters have been led to find the meaning of John's Prologue not with reference to any new, unprecedented set of symbols, but with reference to their own, well-worn semantic universes. In the conclusion it is noted that this research appears to support what many modern theorists have said as to the locus of meaning in interpretation. In the conclusion it is also noted that many of the fears raised by these findings - that readers and writers, or speakers and hearers, may become so isolated and trapped in their own thought worlds that any real contact with the outside is impossible - may be groundless. These findings also point to a certain consistency between the interpreters and their communities. This refutes the fears as to the isolation and solitary development of the individual in that it points to a certain community or corporate aspect which plays a part in the development of the indivi dual's semantic universe . / KMBT_363 / Adobe Acrobat 9.53 Paper Capture Plug-in

This thesis shows that the incarnation of Jesus Christ is an ever present reality for St. John. Christ's abiding presence is known to those who are committed to him because he is their Saviour and Lord. This presence is especially real when his disciples, the believers, the Church gather for worship. In the eucharist, which is an act of worship, the meaning and purpose of the incarnation becomes apparent for St. Paul. By showing that aspects of John's understanding of the incarnation co-incide with the early Church's doctrine of eucharist (as portrayed by St. Paul) the conclusion is reached that we have eucharistic allusions in the gospel of John. Furthermore, John presents Jesus in contrast to the Old Covenant. Jesus supersedes the Old Covenant and establishes the new covenant of love. Just as the Old Covenant was celebrated in the Passover, so the eucharist re-enacts the new covenant. By alluding to the old sacrament, John shows how the eucharist fulfils the true meaning of Passover. After a brief examination of existing methodologies, I present the working hypothesis for this dissertation as outlined above. In a fairly detailed exegesis of Jn 6 (with digressions to other relevant passages in John) which is divided into three sections (In 6:1-21 6:22-48, 6:49-71), I have tried to show that John sees the eucharist as a celebration which emphasises the community of the church, which re-enacts God's great demonstration of love (typified especially in the death of Jesus) and which foreshadows that great heavenly banquet, when, all will be gathered to him. I reach the conclusion therefore that we are justified in finding allusions in the eucharist in the gospel of John.

This dissertation studies the concept of gift in the Gospel of John, especially as it relates to God's gift of salvation to humanity. Chapter 1 defines the problem of the gift both for New Testament studies as well as philosophy and sociology. In light of the discussion of the gift historically and in contemporary scholarship, and in view of the biblical text of the Gospel of John, chapter 1 presents the thesis that the Fourth Gospel describes salvation as a gift rather than an economic exchange. Chapter 2 argues that the Fourth Gospel presents God as a unilateral giver. The foundation for this argument is the Prologue of John's Gospel, which sets forth creation, light, life, and grace as unilateral gifts of God. When the Gospel of John discusses these gifts, it insists that when God gives them, He receives nothing in return from the recipients. Chapter 3 narrows the focus to God's gift of salvation. It begins by defining salvation in Johannine terms. When John's terminology for salvation is examined, it becomes clear that salvation means nothing less than deliverance from the condemnation that results from sin unto eternal life. Salvation is tied to God's gift of His Son. Indeed, salvation is given in the gift of the Son. The gift of the Son, however, is a transcendent gift wherein God gives to humanity exhaustively. Chapter 4 discusses the role of the recipients in the giving and receiving when the giver is God, who gives unilaterally and transcendently. The role of human donees must be viewed within a Johannine concept of Trinitarian giving. The triune nature of divine giving and God's gift of the Spirit to His people present an aneconomic model of giving. Chapter 5 summarizes the main arguments of the dissertation, focusing on the epistemological presuppositions requisite to understand the gift and offering a definition of gift. It also notes remaining challenges that need to be addressed in future studies on the gift in the context of Christian theology.

Thesis advisor: Angela Kim Harkins / Thesis advisor: John F. Baldovin / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

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The thesis for this dissertation is that the Fourth Gospel does have a developed theology of cosmic conflict. Furthermore, warfare is evidenced in the Fourth Gospel by the author's portrayal of three primary aspects of the conflict: (1) the agents involved in the battle, both protagonists and antagonists; (2) metaphors the author employs that depict the conflict; and (3) the weapons, or the means by which the battle is fought.

Although many in Johannine critical scholarship have argued against viewing Jesus' death as a vicarious atonement (e.g., Bultmann), their arguments have failed to adequately deal with the text of the Fourth Gospel (FG). Morgan-Wynne has recently published a concerted effort to demonstrate that atonement in the FG is indeed vicarious; however, his argumentation can be strengthened. In this discourse, I am arguing that John's understanding of Jesus' death is best seen in light of exodus typology, recognizing Jesus as the climactic fulfillment of exodus and New Exodus figures such as the Passover lamb and the Suffering Servant. Because John chose to portray Jesus in this light, a biblical-theological exegesis which takes these into account will illumine John's understanding of Jesus' death. The goal of this discourse then is to provide such an exegesis, in order to draw out some conclusions about Jesus' death in the FG.

The study aims, in the first part, at a coherent formulation of a theory of text production, one located against the backdrop of an Hegelian conception of reality which sees text and society as constituting a dynamic and mutually formative relationship. This theoretical appropriation is situated more broadly in the Tri-Polar exegetical framework as set out by my supervisor, Prof. Jonathan Draper, and in this regard also entails a dialogue with his approach. This then constitutes the first pole of the framework, distantiation. At the second pole, contextualisation, the methodological tool by which contemporary society is critiqued, Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer’s Dialectic of Enlightenment, is used to explicate the mythological degeneration of the modern scientific paradigm in its partnership with the culture industry, where the system’s totalising logic is seen as delimiting the realm of legitimate knowledge generation such that forms of knowledge that might be counterpoised in opposition to this paradigm are from the outset proscribed. The section of contextualisation therefore points to the need for alternative forms of knowledge generation, ones which are not complicit with the internal logic of the system and which thereby seek to avoid either co-option or obsoletisation. In the final stage of appropriation two case studies are offered to suggest how this has been, or could further be, achieved with reference, in the first instance, to the Genesis 3 narrative and the field of anthropological studies and, in the second, to John 20 and the sphere of contemporary ecclesial praxis. The case studies draw on the work of biblical scholars from the relevant fields and seek to represent this work in a kind of re-appropriation interpreting it in light of the theory set out at the stage of distantiation. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

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