Law and love are two of the very important themes of the Fourth Gospel. Surprisingly, there have been only a few works on the theme of love and still fewer on the theme of law. In fact, there are only two monographs on the concept of law in the Fourth Gospel: an English one, Law in the Fourth Gospel, by Severino Pancaro and the other, a German one, Umstrittener Zeuge, by Markku Kotila. A survey of the works produced on the themes of law and love in the Fourth Gospel is presented in the Introduction. However, there has not been so far a single work which deals with the relationship between these two themes in the Fourth Gospel. Therefore, the present thesis is a new venture in the on-going johannine research. This thesis intends to demonstrate that the relationship between the concepts of law and love in the Fourth Gospel is an inalienable feature in the structure of the whole Gospel. The relationship between law and love is interwoven in the content and message of the Fourth Gospel. It is not just a coincidence that the theme of law, and even the occurrences of the term itself, find a place of predominance in the first part of the Gospel (chapters 1--12). In the same way, the theme of love and the frequency of the term itself gain utmost importance in the latter part of the Gospel (chapters 13--21). The relationship between the concepts of law and love belongs to the very core of the message of the Fourth Gospel. This thesis consists of two parts. Part One, comprising of three chapters (chapters one, two and three), deals with the law in the Fourth Gospel and the two chapters (four and five) of Part Two treat the theme of love. The Conclusion presents the Relationship between law and love in the Fourth Gospel. All three chapters of Part One demonstrate beyond doubt that the reality of the law in the Fourth Gospel is only positive and it has the function of leading the people to Jesus, who fulfills the relationship of love, commenced by God in the Old Testament through the mediation of Moses. A deeper look into johannine Christology presents us with the interesting insight that Jesus is not the one who fulfills the law, rather, it is the law which finds its fulfillment in Jesus. The law is only subservient to Jesus, the one in whom the revelation of God finds its fullness. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/9412 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Fernando, G. Charles Anthony. |
| Contributors | Michaud, Jean-Paul, |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 453 p. |
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