This thesis aims to contribute to Johannine scholarship on sense perception and testimony. While the focus has tended to be on one or the other, this thesis shows that sense perception and testimony are used together in John with the intention of drawing the readers into the narrative so that they become witnesses in an emotionally engaged way. The first chapter outlines the focus of the thesis and presents the history of scholarship on sense perception and testimony. In Chapter 2, we survey the Johannine use of sense perception and testimony to show that there is a prima facie case for regarding sense perception as important in giving testimony about God. In Chapter 3, we argue that John is writing to believers to strengthen their faith. The next two chapters survey possible influence on the Johannine use of sense perception in relation to testimony within the Jewish Scripture and the rhetorical dimension of Hellenistic culture. The sixth to eighth chapters examine the Gospel itself. In Chapter 6, we discuss how, for John, sense perception is theologically important in coming to a knowledge of God. In Chapter 7, we look at testimony during Jesus’ public ministry to see how John emphasises physical sense perception through signs and other types of testimony, such as the incidents involving the Samaritan woman and the anointing at Bethany. In Chapter 8, we argue that sense perception and testimony continue to work together within the community after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Our investigation shows that John’s use of sense perception together with testimony is rooted in Jewish literature. John also employs a rhetorical technique which appeals to the persuasive power of sense perception to make his narrative vivid. John does not downplay sense perception. Rather, he uses it in the context of testimony as a means of persuasion to draw the readers, in their imagination, into the experience of the first disciples and thus deeper into faith and witness.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:630079 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Wang, Kuan Hui |
| Publisher | Durham University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10844/ |
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