The thesis deals with the question how to understand the concept of KOSMOS in the Gospel of John. The term KOSMOS can be translated into the Czech language as {\clq}qthe world``. The thesis engages in all verses in the Gospel of John in which KOSMOS is mentioned. Of course, it examines its context which is needed to understand this term. The aim of the thesis is to determine in which meaning the evangelist uses the term KOSMOS.

Traditionally, it has been argued that the Gospel of John was never a mission book (Missionsschrift) but rather a “Gemeindeschrift” written to confirm or deepen the faith of the early Christians of the Johannine community. In this study however, it is argued that although John’s Gospel may be encouraging to believers, the author rhetorically intended to persuade his readers to embody the missional motif, which started with the mission of Jesus. The narrative of Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4:1-42, is investigated as an example of how Jesus for the sake of His mission crossed all barriers of His time to reach out to the Samaritans and therefore issued a pattern, which is to be followed by His followers. It is also argued that when the mission of Jesus and the narrative of the Samaritan woman are integrated, an ethical missional paradigm is constructed in which the believers as members of God’s family are called to embody the “missional ethics” of Jesus. Finally, it is argued that the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman could be interpreted as a narrative of social and spiritual reunion with moral principles that challenges the contemporary church to embark on missional journeys of restoration as Jesus did with the Samaritans. / Dissertation (MA Theol)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / New Testament Studies / Unrestricted

The author of the Gospel of John recorded the seven miracle accounts in his book and named them distinctively as shmei/on (‘sign’), while in the Synoptics the miracles are usually called du,namij (‘mighty deed’). This particular term signifies that the miracles of Jesus in this Gospel are significant occasions which carry associative theological messages. Thus Johannine research has always had a great deal of interest in this specific field. The important interpretative point to note is that the individual sign does not exist on its own but reciprocates the influence to the associated discourses on the revelatory mentions of Jesus and/or operates together with other signs in the specific features of its macro context. Thus the delivery of the message is maximised. As a result of the comprehensive analysis of the whole signs, it is clear that the author of this Gospel elaborately arranges seven signs, and thus draws his theological messages most efficiently. The main concern of shmei/a in this Gospel is to expose the Christological portraits of Jesus and some related theological themes. The divine identities of Jesus that are exposed by the signs are, for example, ‘the eschatological bridegroom,’ ‘the provider of eternal life,’ ‘the bringer of the eschatological salvation,’ and ‘the Messiah/Christ/King.’ Some related theological themes that are conveyed through the signs are, for example, ‘the replacement of the Jewish tradition,’ ‘the significance of a faith in Jesus,’ ‘glorification of Jesus,’ ‘unbelief,’ and ‘the discipleship.’ It is thus clear that the Johannine signs are written so that people may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing people may have Life in His name (cf. 20:31). / Dissertation (MTh.)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / New Testament Studies / unrestricted

In this dissertation the healing acts of Jesus in John are investigated against the ancient Mediterranean socio-religious and cultural background in which it realized. All sickness and healing realities realize within a particular socio-cultural context and may differ significantly within different cultures. For example, less than one hundred years ago depression was not diagnosed as an illness and there existed no therapeutic processes for the disease. When one investigates ancient healing narratives which tell of sickness realities almost 2000 years ago, before the dawn of the Western Bio-Medical research system and modernism, one must remember that the sickness realities of that time will differ to a great extent from the modern project‘s sickness realities and its constructs. The researcher must in other words be very sensitive about anachronistic misinterpretations and ethnocentrism - that is, a reductionistic view of sickness (and other) realities through your own worldview. For this reason the term sickness is used as an umbrella term, and a distinction is made between the curing of a disease and the healing of an illness. The word group curing and disease are words that are used in the Western Bio-Medical world, and are also deeply imbedded within the modernistic philosophical worldview. On the other hand the word group healing of an illness is more inclusive in the sense that it is sensitive to sickness realities as experienced and constructed in ancient Mediterranean societies. In the first century ancient Mediterranean temple oriented Judaism for example, a particular disease (like skin disease), unlike today, also had negative socio-religious implications for the afflicted person which sometimes resulted in marginalization and status deconstruction. Turning to John‘s healing narratives it should also be taken into account that his healing acts are presented as σημετα that is, signs which illustrate that Jesus is the Son of God, the source of life (cf. John 20:30-31; 10:32; 6:14). The question to be answered is, in what way does John present the healing narratives in order to illustrate that Jesus is the true source of Life (cf. John 1:4). The thesis is thus developed that John presents sickness realities that closely represent ¯"death”, crisis, disorientation, brokenness and loss of life possibilities within the ancient Mediterranean symbolic universe. John then presents Jesus as the divine transformation Agent, who restores and recreates life possibilities after a transformational interaction with the sick person. It is also argued that John‘s understanding of healing is not to be limited to the traditional Western Biomedical paradigm revolving around the curing of disease but also includes a view of Jesus‘ role as healer and restorer of spiritual brokenness, a tradition which originated in the Old Testament. The narrative regarding the discussion between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is used as an example of a situation in which Jesus offers someone the gift of life and spiritual restoration or healing which resulted in the representation of reality. Lastly it will be argued why the resurrection could be understood as a Johannine σημετον and also be interpreted as the culminating healing act in John‘s Gospel, illustrating that Jesus is the true source of life in abundance (cf. John 1:4; 10:10). / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / New Testament Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

The Incarnation Mystery in the writings of John of the Cross as a reverberation of Johannine Christology. This thesis analyzes the mystery of Incarnation in the mystical experience and doctrine of John of the Cross, a Spanish Carmelite from 16th century, and searches for traces of the testimony of the Fourth Gospel in his conception of this mystery. Based on analysis of excerpts of his writings it concludes that the mystery of Incarnation has crucial role both in his experience and his writings. It consists in the fact that Jesus - the Word incarnate - is a principal agent in the process of uniting with God: He is both a model for a Christian to shape him or herself after and a beloved Spouse with whom he or she should be united and so enter a loving communion with Father and Son and the Holy Spirit. The main work which reveals how much John of the Cross esteems the mystery of Incarnation is a poetic paraphrase of the Gospel of John: Romance based on the Gospel »In principio erat verbum«. It depicts author's view of the incarnational mystery as a dialogue between Father and Son in eternity. The Incarnation is seen as nuptials of the Word incarnate and humankind which elevates humankind to the God's level. By extension, humankind gains participation on the relationship between Father and Son. The...

In recent decades, most scholars have understood the Gospel of John and three letters of John as a mirror to the so-called "Johannine community"/"Johannine Christianity", whose existence is usually derived from literary and compositional aspects of Johannine corpus. In the following study I am arguing that in order for the term Johannine Christianity to be relevant and meaningful for the study of early Christianity and New Testament literature, we cannot focus on literary aspects of Johannine corpus but on a comparative work and define the term through the internal structure of religion. To be a historically relevant term, the term Johannine Christianity, therefore has to bear, in the context of the New Testament and early Christianity, distinctive doctrine, ritual practices, and institution. In the first part of this paper, I am dealing with literary and stylistic aspects of the Johannine corpus (authorship of gospel and letters, genre and 21st chapter of John's gospel, the beloved disciple, etc.) and arguing that these aspects are not a definite proof of the existence of so- called Johannine community. In the second part, I am arguing that theology, ritual practices, and institutions we find in Johannine corpus, are typical for mainstream Christianity of 1. and 2. century and therefore terms "Johannine...

According to the research, emphatic "Greek text" tells about confidence of Nicodemus in possession of trustworthy criteria, which allow him to judge what might be from God and, hence, what might not be from God. Epistemological premise of Nicodemus is the starting point for the whole conversation in Jn 3:1-21. Analysis of the Jewish literary tradition that used dualistic couples of antonyms to denote "otherness" of the divine sphere 1ms shown that ontological difference (v. 6) makes it impossible for human ("flesh") to know the divine sphere ("spirit"). This results in the fact that manifestations of the divine sphere (effect) are falsely taken by human for the divine sphere itself (cause). In other words, just verification of the divine sphere manifestation without initiative act on behalf of God does not allow human neither to correctly value this sphere, nor to enter it. / New Testament / M. Th. (New Testament)

The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus and is primarily composed of rhetorical statements that were used to preserve the teachings of itinerant Greek philosophers. These collections were used to persuade individuals to join the philosophical schools represented, much like the early followers of the Jesus movement would use his teachings to convince others to join them as well. However, the theological background for the text is still debated because it contains esoteric and enigmatic references not fully understood by most scholars. This work argues that the theological and philosophical background for the Gospel of Thomas is the Alexandrian School of Middle Platonism. This background contains an understanding of the divine, the secret nature of the teachings in the text, and the presence of daemons in the cosmos. In short, this is my attempt at supplying the hermeneutical key to the text or at least supplying a valid ideological background on which the Jesus tradition is cast in the Gospel of Thomas.

Denna uppsats söker besvara frågan ”Hur tolkas Jesu mor i nutida bibelkommentarer till Johannesevangeliet, utifrån de exegetiska forskningsfälten historicitet, litterärkritik och teologi?”. Syftet är att bidra till ett kritiskt och reflekterande samtal kring den exegetiska bibelkommentaren som genre, och i synnerhet bidra till en ökad förståelse av hur nutida exegetiska bibelkommentarer behandlar en teologiskt omstridd biblisk gestalt. Uppsatsen utgår från en teoretisk utgångspunkt som innebär att exegetik inte kan bedrivas opåverkad av exegetens egna föreställningar, varför skillnader mellan olika tolkningar är att förvänta. Uppsatsen har en kvalitativ, hermeneutisk metodansats. Det metodologiska tillvägagångssättet är att med hjälp av problemformuleringen och arbetsfrågorna analysera och diskutera hur Jesu moders historiska, litterära och teologiska roll i bibeltexterna Joh 2:1-11 och 19:25-27 tolkas i nio utvalda exegetiska kommentarer till Johannesevangeliet.I kapitel 1 introduceras teori, metod, avgränsningar, begrepp, angränsande forskning, material och disposition. I kapitel 2 presenteras de grekiska texterna till de aktuella perikoperna 2:1-11 och 19:25-27, som ett stöd för läsaren. I kapitel 3 analyseras de nio bibelkommentarerna i tur och ordning enligt arbetsfrågorna. I kapitel 4 sätts bibelkommentarernas respektive tolkningar i relation till varandra; och en diskussion kring likheter, skillnader och mönster förs. I samma kapitel presenteras en sammanfattande diskussion, uppsatsens slutsatser och förslag till framtida forskning.Uppsatsens slutsatser är (1) att Jesu mor som historisk gestalt är indirekt föremål för diskussion, genom en mer övergripande diskussion om Johannesevangeliet som ögonvittnesskildring eller ej, (2) att Jesu mor i allmänhet framstår som en rund, statisk (se 1.3 Teori och metod för en förklaring av dessa begrepp) karaktär i de analyserade kommentarerna, och (3) att Jesu mor av de flesta anses som en viktig teologisk gestalt, framförallt som en del i en uppfattad johanneisk teologi om en familj av troende som instiftas av Jesus; en ståndpunkt som dock väcker debatt och möter motstånd

According to the research, emphatic "Greek text" tells about confidence of Nicodemus in possession of trustworthy criteria, which allow him to judge what might be from God and, hence, what might not be from God. Epistemological premise of Nicodemus is the starting point for the whole conversation in Jn 3:1-21. Analysis of the Jewish literary tradition that used dualistic couples of antonyms to denote "otherness" of the divine sphere 1ms shown that ontological difference (v. 6) makes it impossible for human ("flesh") to know the divine sphere ("spirit"). This results in the fact that manifestations of the divine sphere (effect) are falsely taken by human for the divine sphere itself (cause). In other words, just verification of the divine sphere manifestation without initiative act on behalf of God does not allow human neither to correctly value this sphere, nor to enter it. / New Testament / M. Th. (New Testament)